A Hogwarts Rose Year 3
by Lexa-Jean-Ride
Summary: The threat of the basilisk has past and the long desired holidays has come at last. What will happen when Rose finally meets her siblings and spends the summer with her real family? However a new threat is lingering in Hogwarts and the time will come for our four heroes to defend their school and find out the truth in this new adventure! Please read and review! :D
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! Thank you to all my loyal readers and to those who have read the two previous stories in this series and if you haven't read them I suggest you do before you read this one!**

 **Enjoy!**

I sighed, the hardest part was over, now we went and sat in the same compartment that we had every other time we took the train and we sat in the same seats: I was next to the window that was facing backwards for all the return trips and forwards for the trips to Hogwarts, Hermione sat next to me, Harry was next to the window opposite me and Ron sat next to him. I was sad that another year was over and yet I was happy that I didn't have to go back and live with the Partridge couple. Instead I got to spend the holidays with Father and meet my siblings for the first time which made me feel excited.

'So Rose what are you going to do these holidays?' Mione asked.

'Probably getting to know my siblings.' I shrugged. 'What about you Harry?'

'Not much.'

'You know, you could probably come and visit me during the holidays, I'm sure Father won't mind.'

'That would be nice.' He smiled.

'Yeah it would get you away from those awful relatives of yours.' Ron said.

'But I don't know if they'd let me go.'

'I'm sure Father can convince them, after all he got me away from my foster family.' I replied.

'We'll see. Anyway, what are you doing these holidays Mione?' Harry asked.

'Reading.' She replied.

'Lots of visits to the library.' Ron smirked.

'Probably.'

'What about you Ron?' Harry asked.

'Whatever I want.' Ron replied. 'Or at least anything that doesn't cost money.'

'In other words stay at home with Fred, Gorge and Ginny.' I smirked.

'Shut up.' He replied.

I couldn't help wondering what Draco was going to be doing, I was going to miss him during the holidays, I didn't get to say goodbye to him before we got on the train and I honestly didn't think I'd see him at Kings Cross.

'Anyone for a liquorice wand?' Harry asked.

'No thanks; I hate liquorice.' I replied.

'I'll have some.' Ron grinned.

'None for me.' Hermione shook her head.

'Suit yourself.' Harry shrugged.

The trip was long and it felt like a century had passed before the train stopped at Kings Cross Station. The four of us said goodbye and we promised to write to each other, I have my doubts that Ron will actually follow through with that promise though and giving each other one last hug we went our separate ways. I found Father waiting for me near the back wall away from the large crowd, I walked over to him and smiled, I never thought I'd be happy with him as my Father and I'd never thought I could be so wrong.

'How was the ride?'

'It was great.'

'I'm happy to hear that, now take my arm we don't want to keep the rest of the family waiting too long.' He said holding his arm out for me. Hesitantly I placed my hand on his arm then I was twisted and warped as we moved with lightning speed. We soon came to a stop and I ended up in a mangled heap on the ground beside my Fathers feet, he was still standing and he smirked as he looked down at me.

'What was that?' I asked groaning as he helped me up.

'Apparating, you did very well, most people vomit on their first try.' He explained.

'Can't imagine why.' I replied then I looked up to the huge mansion in front of us. It was black with several windows on the second floor that I could see. When we walked up the long driveway and reached the door I was surprised to see that there was no door handle, instead there was only an old brass knocker in the shape of a snake. How very Slytherin. I looked beside me to Father for an explanation.

'It's a security precaution.' He explained. 'Knock.' I did as I was told and reached up, took hold of the knocker and tapped it against the door.

'State your name.' The snake hissed.

'Rose Ebony Snape.'

'You may enter.' Then the door swung back to reveal a beautiful foyer. I walked through and looked around in awe. In a way it was just like I'd picture the potions masters house it was large and foreboding, the amount of Slytherin green, black and silver was scary and yet it was comforting too. I hoped my room wasn't quite as Slytherin and that it had a little more red in it. I was about to ask if I go and explore when I heard a shriek echo through the halls followed by a pair of thundering footsteps. Within seconds I was pushed to the floor once again as two over excited kids tackled me in a bone-crushing hug. It was a boy and a girl, they were laughing hysterically and I was able to assume these were my brother and sister. The boy had very short black hair and the girl had long beautiful red hair.

However the light-hearted mood soon changed when they began to smother me and they cut off my air, my mind went back to that day at Hogwarts with Millicent Bulstrode and the others as they pinned me up against the wall and choked me. I freaked and began to writhe frantically from underneath them, trying to escape their grasp. Father ordered them off me and they did as they were told, but I stayed lying on the ground quivering.

'What's wrong with her Dad?' The girl asked. Father bent down and brought me close to him.

'Rose, are you alright?' He asked softly.

'I-I thought...' I shook my head and clung to him. He picked me up and held me and I saw the curiosity and fear in the other kids eyes.

'It's ok Rose, your brother and sister would never hurt you.' He assured me.

'I'm sorry Father, but that day at the castle...Bulstrode...the other Slytherins...' I whispered.

'Of course... When they attacked you, I'm so sorry I didn't even think about it.' He said appalled with himself.

'It's fine.' I said getting back to normal as he put me back on my feet. 'Now who are you?' I asked the others.

'I'm Julia.' The girl replied.

'My name's Gavin.' The boy introduced himself. 'You must be Rose, right?'

'Yeah.'

'Well Dad I guess we have a lot of luck, I mean three kids and not one of us got the Snape nose.' Gavin laughed, Julia and I giggled.

'Very funny Gavin, but I'd watch out if you want desert tonight.' Father warned.

'Sorry Dad.' Gavin instantly apologised.

'Now why don't you two show your sister around the house.' He suggested.

'Yes Dad.' Julia replied and she took my hand. 'Come on.' Then we started running down the halls, I heard Father chuckle as we disappeared. 'We'll show you the games room first.' Julia said as they led me to a large room near the back of the house.

I was shocked when I looked inside and saw a huge TV sitting on top of a mahogany cupboard in front a big black leather lounge, there was a coffee table where wizard chess had been set up alongside a pile of exploding snap cards. My mouth fell open when I noticed the black Wii and PlayStation 3 next to the TV. Despite the room being the same green as the rest of the house it wasn't as dark as the sun shone in through the large windows which could still easily be covered by the curtains.

'How rich are you?' I asked.

'Reasonably.' Gavin replied.

'Anyway there's still loads more to see.' Julia said tugging on my hand and they then showed me the rest of the downstairs rooms. 'Our bedrooms are upstairs.' She explained so we went to check them out. Our rooms were all in the one area, except for Fathers, a wide hall with two rooms on either side. Mine was the one closest to the end, Julia's was next to mine and Gavin's was opposite hers. I walked over to the door and put my hand on the knob, I looked to my siblings for approval and they nodded grinning. So I twisted the knob and gently pushed the door open, as I saw the room I was amazed. The colour of the walls was changing! It went from pink to purple to blue, yellow, orange, red, green, black and white.

'It's the most amazing room I've ever seen!' I said in complete awe.

'Dad thought you'd like it.' Gavin smiled.

'It changes depending on your emotions.' Julia explained as the room settled on a bright shade of pink.

'Brilliant.' I said walking in.

'We'll let you get settled.' Julia said pulling Gavin away into the corridor and I heard them walk back downstairs.

The room was at least twice the size of my old bedroom with a four poster bed with a fluffy white duvet and silver velvet sheets. The black carpet was nice and soft between my toes. There was large sliding glass doors that opened up on to a balcony that connected to the other spare room that was across from mine. I walked out on the balcony and looked at the spectacular view of the land that the house was built on. I noticed that there was a large area that looked as if it was a quidditch pitch and there was also a large swimming pool with a slide going into it.

This is going to be the best holiday ever!


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys I'm sorry this is a short chapter, but I wanted to have a little "sister fluff" so here you go!**

 **Please Review!**

I soon finished unpacking my trunk and placed my things on shelves, the dressing table and in the wardrobe, I like this place and apparently Mabel does to, my cat was content in walking around my room and finding things to hide in. I decided to let her get used to the place and went back downstairs to spend time with my family in hopes of getting to know each other better. As I walked towards the kitchen I heard the three of them talking and being me, I decided to listen in.

'Well, what do you think of your sister?' Father asked.

'She seems like fun!' Julia replied happily.

'I don't know... What happened in the foyer before?' Gavin asked unsure.

'She was attacked by some other students in her school last year, they chocked her and she panicked because she couldn't breathe with the two of you on top of her.'

'So we reminded her of what happened... Oh I feel terrible.' Julia turned sad.

'It wasn't our fault how were we supposed to know that, we were just excited to see her, after all we haven't seen her since we were three!' Gavin said angrily and he stormed out. I quietly snuck into the kitchen, happy that he hadn't noticed me.

'Hey.' Julia said turning to me.

'Hi.'

'I'm really sorry for what happened before, we didn't mean to smother you, it's just we got so excited!'

'It's ok, I just over reacted, but hey we're all good.' I smiled.

'Thank goodness. By the way don't worry to much about Gavin; he gets moody and having you around is going to be weird for him for a while, but he'll get used to it.' She shrugged it off.

'Right... Anyway...'

'Wanna go to the games room?'

'Sure!' The two of us walked out of the kitchen and we talked until we reached the games room and flopped on to the lounge. 'So how old are you?' I asked.

'Fourteen, but I'll be fifteen next month.'

'I'm thirteen, but my birthday's the fourteenth of November.'

'I see, so it's still during school.'

'Yeah, but I've never really celebrated it anyway.'

'That's terrible, everyone should celebrate on their birthday! Don't worry this year I'll send you a gift from Beauxbaton.'

'That's the witch school you go to, right?'

'Yep. It's pretty fun, speaking of school what's Hogwarts like?'

'It's great, I never knew so much about magic and everyone there is so nice, well except some of the Slytherins, but on the whole it's the most amazing place I've ever been to!'

'Dad doesn't talk about it much, but what's it like having boys there with you?'

'You don't have boys at your school?'

'Nope.' She shook her head. 'Beauxbaton is an all girl school.'

'I don't think I'd like that, in fact two of my best friends are boys.'

'Really?'

'Oh yeah, Harry and Ron are two of my best friends, Hermione's my only good friend who's a girl actually.'

'Wow, I couldn't imagine being friends with a boy, everyone at school says they're insensitive and only like girls for their appearance.' She wrinkled her nose disgusted.

'Not all of them, Harry, Ron and Draco aren't like that.' I shook my head.

'Wait, who's Draco?'

'Oh, my other friend.'

'Do you mean Draco Malfoy?'

'Yeah, how'd you know?' I asked shocked.

'He and his parents come to visit us sometimes, I like Draco, he's a sweet kid.'

'Yeah, he's nice. Anyway what about you? What are your friends like?'

'They're pretty nice, but we don't get to see each other during the holidays much.'

'Why not?' I asked curious.

'Dad normally doesn't have people over to the house much unless they're from Hogwarts like the Malfoy's or Parkinson's.'

'The Parkinson's? As in Pansy Parkinson?'

'The very same.' She nodded. I was disgusted; why would Dad ever invite them over?

'You know I always wanted a little sister to hang out with.' Julia blushed.

'I always wanted a big sister and a big brother.' I replied smiling as she reached forward and gave a gentle hug.

 **Please review (even if it's only criticism)!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys I'm so glad people are reading my story! Hope you like it!**

 **Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter.**

After our chat I went to find Father; I wanted to tell him how happy I was that I finally had a big sister especially when she's as nice as she is. I found him in the library reading a book on potions (what a surprise, not). He looked up from his book and smiled at me.

'Hello.'

'Hi.'

'Well what do you think of your new home and your siblings?' He asked. Before I gave him my answer I studied his expression, he seemed confident, but his eyes gave away a small glimmer of nervousness.

'I think their great.' I grinned.

'I'm glad to hear that. Come sit here.' He patted the chair next to him and I went and sat down.

'I always wanted a sister and Julia seems so nice.'

'Yes, she inherited that from your mother.' He smiled dreamily as if remembering his deceased wife.

'Who was my mother?' I asked tentatively. His gaze turned sad and cold as he watched me with his obsidian eyes and he took several moments to answer.

'She was an extraordinary woman, kind, clever, brave... She was talented at everything and yet she was so modest. She stood up for the things she believed in and wasn't afraid to admit when she was wrong... I see so much of her in you.' He smiled sadly. 'Julia as well.'

'What about Gavin?' Father shook his head.

'No, he takes after me more than your mother, I do see aspects of her in him, but nothing to extent that I see in you and your sister.'

'I see.' I replied quietly, unsure of what to say.

'Anyway, you'll get to know them both more over the summer and besides I might be able to invite one of your friends over to see you.' He arched an eyebrow.

'Draco.' I grinned.

'How'd you know?' He asked surprised.

'Julia told me that they come over every so often.' I replied smirking.

'That sister of yours, always stealing my thunder.' He shook his head smiling.

'Well it makes a change from Dumbledore doing it, right?'

'I suppose you're right.' He chuckled. 'Anyway, have you spoken with your brother yet?'

'No.'

'Why not?'

'I don't know, he just doesn't seem to like me.'

'Why don't you go and talk to him, he's not as cold as he appears sometimes.'

'A lot like you.' I smirked as I slipped out the door. I decided to follow his advice and go look for my older brother, I was surprised when I found him in his room fidgeting with a small crumpled piece of parchment. 'Hi.' I said quietly. He jumped, closed the paper in his fist and looked up.

'What are you doing here? Your room's down the hall.' He replied.

'I know, I just wanted to talk to you.'

'Hmph.' He said and looked away.

'So... I-'

'Look, Rose, I am not like Julia. I don't want to be your best friend and share gossip with you or try and make up for lost time, so don't even try.'

Taken aback I stared at him with my hung open; how could he say that? I stepped back and slammed the door. It was then that Julia appeared and invited me into her room, I agreed. Once we were inside she gently shut the door and we sat down on the bed, by this time several tears had formed in my eyes and once was silently rolling down my cheek.

'What happened?' She asked.

'H-he told me told me not to try and talk to him or get to know him. He doesn't like me!' I sniffed. She wrapped her arms round me and pulled me in for a hug.

'Don't hold it against him, he's been like that ever since he found out what happened to Mother.' She said quietly stroking my hair.

'W-Why?'

'I'm not entirely sure, I know he always wanted a younger sister until he was about ten, the two of us used to talk about how we pictured you, after that he just stopped talking about it. I would mention it and he would just snarl or snap at me and tell me not to talk about it.' She replied. 'Don't worry, he'll soften up after a while and I'm sure you'll really like each other, after all he's been a great brother to me.'

'I hope you're right.'

'Of course I'm right, I know him like the back of my hand. Anyway, let's talk about something else, like what's your favourite class?'

'Defence Against the Dark Arts.'

'Like Dad, mine's transfiguration.' I was surprised that they have that at their school, then I realised that it wasn't probably a class at all Wizarding schools. 'What else do you like?'

'I like flying, potions, charms and...music.'

'Me too! I seriously love music, especially singing, but I don't do it often.'

'Me neither.' I shook my head, Mr Partridge had always hated music and never let me sing.

'What's your favourite song?'

'I don't have one.' I shrugged. 'You?'

'Way to many.' She giggled.

'Do you like Freak the Freak Out?' I asked eagerly.

'Yes!' She squealed. 'I have it on here.' She pulled out her iPod touch and scrolled through her music until she found it and pressed play.

 _"Are you listening?_

 _Hear me talk, hear me sing._

 _Open up the door,_

 _Is it less, is it more?_

 _When you tell me to beware,_

 _Are you here? Are you there?_

 _Is it something I should know?_

 _Easy come, easy go._

 _Nodding your head,_

 _Don't hear a word I said_

 _I can't communicate, when you wait, don't relate_

 _I try to talk to you_

 _But you never even knew,_

 _So what's it gonna be?_

 _Tell me can you hear me?"_

We got up and started jumping around the room singing at the top of our lungs!

 _"I'm so sick of it,_

 _Your attention deficit_

 _Never listen, never listen._

 _I'm so sick of it,_

 _So I'll throw another fit._

 _Never listen, never listen._

 _I scream your name,_

 _It always stays the same._

 _I scream and shout,_

 _So what I'm gonna do now_

 _Is freak the freak out, hey!_

 _Whoa oh oh, whoa oh oh,_

 _Whoa oh oh, whoa oh oh oh._

 _Patience running thin,_

 _Running thin, come again_

 _Tell me what I get_

 _Opposite, opposite_

 _Show me what is real_

 _If it breaks does it heal?_

 _Open up your ear_

 _Why you think that I'm here?_

 _Keep me in the dark_

 _Are you even thinking of me?_

 _Is someone else above me_

 _Gotta know, gotta know_

 _What am I gonna do?_

 _'Cause I can't get through to you_

 _So what's it gonna be?_

 _Tell me can you hear me?_

 _(Can you hear me?)_

 _I'm so sick of it,_

 _Your attention deficit_

 _Never listen, never listen._

 _I'm so sick of it,_

 _So I'll throw another fit._

 _Never listen, never listen._

 _I scream your name,_

 _It always stays the same._

 _I scream and shout,_

 _So what I'm gonna do now_

 _Is freak the freak out, hey!_

 _Whoa oh oh, whoa oh oh,_

 _Whoa oh oh, whoa oh oh oh_

 _Whoa oh oh, whoa oh oh,_

 _Whoa oh oh, whoa oh oh oh_

 _(Freak the freak out!) [repeats in background until end]_

 _I scream your name_

 _But you never listen_

 _No you never listen_

 _But you never listen"_

'You are an amazing singer!' Julia grinned as we flopped on her bed.

'Thanks you too.'

'Seriously do you take lessons?'

'No, my foster father never approved of singing.'

'That's to bad, but now that you're with us we'll have you singing all the time in fact I think you should join the Hogwarts choir.' She beamed.

'Hogwarts have a choir?' I asked perplexed.

'Oh yes and when you go back to school, you simply must join it!'

 **Remember to review and tell me what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter.**

Later I went to find Gavin again just to see if he would talk to me and I could to try to find out what makes him tick. I searched the entire house and came up empty, it was then that I discovered that he was into outdoor stuff. I walked out the back door and caught a glimpse of a broom speeding through the sky, a thought hit me. If I wanted to get to know my older brother I would have to try and connect using any means possible, so if we both like riding brooms that would be the easiest way to try and talk to him. So I went and found a spare broomstick, I then mounted it and flew up to try and spot my brother. Unfortunately he found me first.

'What are you doing up here?' He asked from behind me.

'I wanted to try flying again, after all I haven't done in just under a year now.'

'Right and I'll bet you fell of it then, didn't you?'

'No.' I shook my head. 'In fact I bet that I could race you in a lap around the house and win.' He smirked at me as he thought it over before deciding to answer.

'Alright, but I won't be held responsible when you fall off and get hurt.'

'Let's just get started.' I said and I flew down near the house, he followed and we sat next to each other on our brooms. 'Ready.'

'Set.'

'Go!' We both shouted and we took off like shots! I grinned as the wind whipped my hair around behind my head and I leaned to the side as I flew round the corner, noticing that Gavin was still right beside me. If I was going to talk to him without him being rude to me I'd either have to win or tie this race so I leaned forward on the broom, encouraging it to go faster. I saw Julia and we waved to each other as I sped past her bedroom window, boy had I missed this! The last time I had rode a broom I had been racing Draco and he had made me angry by hurling insults at me, but I didn't care about that now, all I cared about was the rush that flying gave me and how good it would feel to beat my older brother!

I would have a great story to tell Harry and Hermione when I wrote to them later, I wish they could come and visit me, they would love this place. I returned my focus to the task at hand as I turned the corner and raced past the front of the house, I smirked as I saw Gavin trying to pass me. However my smirk soon faded as a black owl zoomed in front of me, my hands slipped as I tried to avoid hitting it and I fell from the broom. I closed my eyes and scrunched my face as I waited to hit the hard ground below, but it never happened. I peeked opene my eyes and saw that I had stopped about twenty centimetres from the ground before I flopped the rest of the way. Gavin quickly landed beside me and helped me up.

'You alright?' He asked.

'Yeah.' I nodded brushing myself off. 'Looks like you were right, you win by default.' My gaze fell to the ground.

'How about we call it a draw, after all you would have won.' He grinned for a moment before his expression turned serious again. 'Are you sure you're ok?'

'Yes, but after that I'm kinda hungry.' I replied and we put the brooms away and went inside to the kitchen. 'So whose owl was that?'

'I don't know; it wasn't ours.' He shrugged. Then I laughed as I saw the jet black owl sitting in the window looking quizzically at us, I walked over to it and saw it had a letter tied around its leg addressed to me so I opened it.

 _Dear Rose,_

 _Hi. I know it hasn't been long since we've spoken, but I wanted to find out how you're liking Snape Manor and what you think of your siblings. They've probably already told you this, but we've met several times before and I personally find them great fun. Anyway, write back to me soon and you'd better write to your other friends (Granger just wrote to me asking had I heard from you), so have fun and say hi to your siblings for me._

 _PS. This is my pet owl Shadow, don't judge me I was like five when I named him._

 _Write back soon,_

 _Draco._

I smiled, I would have to write back, but when I looked the owl had already gone and I could see it flying home. That would make things interesting, but I still had a question to ask my good friend Draco about a certain house elf that I met last year under mysterious circumstances...

Dinner was awkward that night, Gavin sat on Father's right, while Julia sat next to him and I sat opposite her leaving a seat vacant on the left side of Father. I honestly don't know why I did it, it just felt right. All the same we stayed quiet, Father tried to start several conversations, but they never lasted very long. I twiddled my thumbs nervously, until I couldn't stand it any longer and excused myself before retreating to my room.

I was unsurprised when I saw the walls of my room turn deep blue when I entered, I honestly thought that being with my family would be fun and happy, but this isn't going well... I don't get what Gavin's problem is, he seemed to care about me a little more after the broomstick incident, but now he's gone back to being distant and kinda mean again. I walked over to the wardrobe, sighing as I took out my pyjamas and got changed before getting into bed. I was about to lie down when I heard a knock on the door.

'Come in.' The door opened and Father walked in, giving me a small smile as he sat on the end of my bed. 'Hello Father.'

'I'm sorry about dinner, I know it was uncomfortable for you, I should have done more to encourage the others to talk to you and make you feel welcome.'

'It wasn't your fault, I just... I don't know, I-I miss Hogwarts.' I sighed.

'I know you do, but trust me the holidays will fly past and you'll be wishing it was longer so try to make the most of it. Anyway the other reason I came up here to talk to you was to tell you that it's customary to have a sleepover in the lounge room on the first night of holidays and I was wondering if you would like to be a part of it?' It sounded great, but Gavin would be there and given how well it went when I tried to talk to him before I don't know if that's such a great idea... Still, it would mean a lot to Father and I'll probably regret not going later on... 'Julia really wants to see you down there...' He winked.

'Oh alright, lead the way.' I said grabbing my pillow and I followed him down to the lounge room.

'See I told you I would convince her.' Dad smirked as we walked in.

'Oh you're doing it! YAY!' Julia grinned and hugged me.

'Wouldn't miss it.' I smiled and sat on my mattress which had magically appeared down here beside hers, with Gavin's on the other side so that I was in the middle. The a thought hit me smack in the face, I'd forgotten something or rather someone. 'Mabel!'

'Who?' Julia asked confused.

'My cat Mabel, I haven't given her her dinner yet!' I explained jumping up.

'You have a cat? Awesome! Can I see it?'

'Yes, come on!' I grinned and we raced upstairs. I flicked the light on as we entered my room and looked around for my fluffy calico kitten. 'Mabel where are you?' I called. 'Come on come and get your dinner!' I opened a tin and put some food into her bowl and watched as she came tumbling out from under my bed. 'I'm gonna need to get her some more food soon.' I mumbled, thinking out loud.

'Oh my gosh she's adorable!' Julia squealed, Mabel looked at my sister and meowed.

'I'm sure that means thank you.' I smiled picking her up and holding her out for Julia to touch, I watched as Julia stroked her soft fur and smiled. 'Do you have any pets?' I asked. She nodded.

'Yeah, bring Mabel and come meet Cleo.' She suggested and I followed her out of the room, still carrying my fluff ball.

'Does Gavin have anything pets?'

'No, not yet and don't tell him this, but Dad's thinking of getting him something for his birthday.'

'That'll be cool.'

'I hope so.' She replied as we went into her room, which was an awesome shade of deep purple with a queen bed and a lavender duvet on it. She brought us over to a stand in the corner of the room on which I was surprised to see a black and brown owl sitting on it. 'This is my pet owl Cleo.'

'She's beautiful.' I said admiring the wise creature, she seemed friendly and I couldn't help wondering how long Julia had owned her for.

'Six years, I got her when I was eight.' She said, I stared at her.

'How did you know what I was thinking?' I asked slightly unnerved. Julia shrugged.

'I don't know, Gavin and I do that to each other all the time, most people say that's a twin thing, but we're not twins so that is kinda weird...'

'Yeah.' I nodded slowly. 'Let's go back downstairs, I'm sure the others will be missing us.'

'You're probably right.' She nodded and we headed out pausing as she turned the light.

'Hey can I get Cleo to deliver a letter for me tomorrow?'

'Sure, she needs to go for a fly anyway.' She smiled and we kept walking down the steps and into the lounge room where we found Gavin and Father in a rather heated conversation.

'Are you kidding? Now way, that is so boring!' Gavin complained.

'No it's not!' Dad replied.

'What are you guys talking about?' Julia asked.

'I wanna watch the last three Star Wars movies and Dad wants to watch them right from the beginning!' Gavin explained flopping on his mattress. Julia sighed, shaking her head.

'We've been through this before: if we watch them we watch them all, no matter how bad the first three are.'

'See, listen to your sister.' Dad joked as he put the movie in and we all got comfortable to sit/lie down and watch it.

By the time one o'clock came around we had just finished watching the third movie and were about to start the fourth when a sneaky idea popped into my mind, I could here the soft sound of snoring next to me coming from Julia who had requested to be woken when we started watching the fourth movie if she had already fallen asleep and I knew just how to do it! I grabbed my pillow then bashed it over her head, laughing hysterically as she shrieked and sat up.

'I'll get you for that!' She said grabbing her own pillow and trying to whack me with it. I managed to dodge her which resulted in Gavin getting hit instead, I held my breath as he sat up and glared at us, but his expression changed to an evil smirk and he took his pillow and joined in!

'Pillow fight!' He shouted and it was on! I started smashing my fluffy pillow over Gavin's head as he aimed for my middle. I paused in my act of violence, then Julia looked at Gavin and they both nodded at exactly the same time!

'You're going down little sister!' Julia smirked and they both started hitting me! I squealed and made a tactical retreat to hide behind Father, who was laughing at us.

'Save me.' I squeaked, he smiled.

'Alright, but don't get used to it.' Then he stood up and joined in.

'Aw come on! Why are you on her side?' Julia whined, while try to strike as he managed to block her while I took on Gavin.

'Because she's the youngest and you and your brother are already teammates.' He smirked.

'Yeah.' I added.

'You're gonna get it now Rosy!' Gavin said and he tackled me down on to the mattress. I laughed hysterically as he tickled me like crazy.

'Stop!' I laughed.

'Do you concede?' He asked.

'Never!' Then Julia joined in and attacked my feet! 'Ok! Ok! I give in!' They stopped and collapsed in a laughing heap next to me.

'Hey you three, do you want hot chocolates?' Father asked.

'Yes please!' We all cheered and he went out to the kitchen.

'That was fun.' Julia giggled.

'Yeah.' I grinned, then as I replayed what had just happened in my mind I had a thought. 'Gavin, why did you call me Rosy?' I asked curious.

'Uh... The excitement got to my head.' He replied quietly.

'Right.' I sighed and crawled back to my bed and decided to try eavesdropping on my older siblings.

'Why do you have to be so mean? It was fun, admit it! Then you have to go and ruin it! What is your problem?' Julia asked angrily, while still keeping her voice down.

'Nothing.' He replied.

'Oh come on, she's our sister and she's gong to be here for the whole Summer! You should be nice to her!' He didn't reply, instead he just got up walked over to me, took my hand and pulled me out into the foyer.

'Come on, there's something I want to show you.' He said and I followed him to the library. We walked through the long dimly lit hallways as he lead me by the hand, helping me around corners and making sure that I didn't get lost. Once we were in there, he gently closed the doors and looked through the shelves until he found a large plain black book. He brought it over to the table and opened it in front of me, taking a deep breath before blowing off the thick layer of dust that had accumulated to reveal what looked to be old photos. 'Confused?' He asked.

'A little.' I nodded.

'I'd be surprised if you weren't. This is our family photo album, our _only_ family photo album.'

'Only?'

'Yeah, we can't afford to have anymore.'

'What do you mean? We're practically rich!'

'No not like that, as in our safety depends on no one knowing who we are except for close family friends. You know what happened to our Mum right?' He asked uncertainly.

'I know enough; I know Voldemort killed her.'

'There's more to it than that, Voldemort used our Mum to pressure Dad into doing things he didn't want to do, she was his perfect weakness, but he never knew just how far their relationship stretched. He knew they were friends, that's all. They kept their marriage a secret and knew that any children they had needed to be hidden, so Julia and I never really left the manor unless we went to Malfoy Manor where the servants looked after us while Dad taught at Hogwarts. In fact that's how we first met Draco, we did homeschool together at their house, anyway this is where I suppose my... Grudge, comes into things. Everything started getting worse as Voldemort gained followers and then you came into the picture, Dad said there was something special about you, apparently there's a prophesy about you and Voldemort was interested in finding you to raise to the dark side.'

'Me? Voldemort wanted me?' I asked in disbelief, Gavin nodded.

'Dad said that we had to get rid of you, it wasn't safe for any of us to keep you so Mum and Dad gave you to a muggle, after that Mum was so distraught that she spent most of her time crying and later had to pretend to marry another guy and say that our other brother was his.' He paused for several moments. 'I guess Julia's already told you this, but I always wished that you were around when we were younger and as I got older and discovered what happened I started to think that you didn't want anything to do with us and I started blaming our family's misfortune on you, that's why I've been unfriendly towards you.'

'You blamed me for our Mother's murder?' I asked shocked, he nodded ashamed. 'I never asked for a prophesy, I never wanted to be different! You have no idea what I would give to have the childhood that you have had!' I growled angrily. 'I was beaten and abused by the man I thought to be my Father and now I meet my real family for the first time and discover that he has blamed me for the murder of the mother I never knew! I can't believe it!' I snapped, storming back to the lounge room before flopping on my mattress.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! Next chapter's here! Yay!**

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 **Now, where were we?**

I woke up the next morning as sunlight streamed in through the windows, yawning and stretching I sat up and looked around. Julia was still asleep beside me and as I turned I saw that Gavin was the same, Father however was gone so I crossed the foyer and went into the kitchen to find him cooking pancakes. I smiled as the delicious smell wafted into my nostrils.

'Good morning Father.'

'Morning Rose.' He replied without turning to face me.

'How'd you know it was me?' I asked curious.

'Well for starters I know you're voice and second I know that Julia never gets up this early unless she's got something on especially after a long night like last night.' He replied turning and smirking at me.

'I see.' I nodded. 'Ok so how did you know that I love pancakes?'

'That's a family trait, all the Snape's that live in this house love pancakes.'

'Even you?' I asked more than a little surprised. He nodded.

'Even me.'

'What about Mother?' He froze, I panicked. 'I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that, uh... I'll be right back.' I said and I dashed out of the kitchen as fast as I could.

'Rose wait!' He called, but I didn't listen.

Geez I'm stupid! I'm here for a day (not even that actually) and I'm asking more questions than you could poke a stick at! Have forgotten everything Mr Partridge taught me already? The memory flashed in my mind.

'KEEP QUIET AND DON'T ASK QUESTIONS! OR NEXT TIME I'LL LOCK YOU IN YOUR ROOM FOR A MONTH! Do you understand?'

'Y-Yes S-Sir.' I stuttered, then I came to a screeching halt in front of my bedroom door realising what I'd just done. I had actually answered as if he was there! As if I was six again, cowering at his feet as he towered over me, threatening to slap me with the back of his hand. I shuddered and opened the door, leaving myself unprepared for the flurry of fur as my cat launched herself into my arms. 'Hello Mabel.' I smiled stroking her as I walked over to my window, remembering that my mattress was still downstairs.

I should have known that Mabel would be here to cheer me up, she had been a gift from Mrs Partridge after all and she had always tried to help me against her husband in any secret way she could. That reminded me, I wonder how she is going, I hold write her a letter to tell her how things are here and who knows, maybe Father would let her stay here for a while to get her away from Mr Partridge. Of course I couldn't go and ask him now, not after what I just did, that was a stupid move to bring _her_ up. I was about sit on the floor when I heard a knock at my door.

'Rose?' It was Father, I didn't answer so he slowly creaked opened the door.

'I'm sorry.' I said quietly looking at the floor.

'What for? You asked a perfectly reasonable question, I just wasn't prepared for it, there was no need for you to run away.' He said coming in.

'No, I shouldn't have asked, I shouldn't be asking anything, I should just keep my mouth shut and not ask questions.'

'Hey.' Hey put his hand under my chin and guided my face up to look at him. 'That doesn't sound like you, that sounds like Partridge. Am I right?' He asked, I nodded. 'Hm... Well, that's not you, that's not my Rose.' He gently brought his hand down the side of my face. 'Now come on let's go have some breakfast and to answer your question: yes, your Mother liked pancakes too.' He said and I put Mabel down as we walked out of the room.

'I was wondering, c-could I invite Mrs Partridge to stay for a few days sometime during the Summer?' I asked nervously.

'Yes, I think that's a good idea.'

'A-Are you sure?'

'Of course.' He smiled and I hugged him as hard as I could.

'Thank you!' I squealed.

'You're quite welcome, but I still want to have you to myself for a little bit longer.'

'Sure.'

'Good because I'm very selfish; I don't like to share my daughter with anyone!' He smirked, I laughed as we walked into the kitchen. Julia smiled at me from the table, I glanced at Gavin who gave me a weak smile and I returned it which caused him to brighten a bit. I figured that it was no use holding a grudge against him and he probably didn't mean it anyway, a bit like Ron I suspect. I sat in my seat and Father served us the pancakes, complete with ice cream and maple syrup! 'Morning everyone.'

'Morning Dad.' Julia and Gavin smiled as he sat at the head of the table, my siblings then turned to face me.

'Morning little sis.' Julia grinned.

'Morning Julia, Morning Gavin.'

'Morning Rosy.' He smiled.

'You still haven't told me why you call me that.'

'Well, when Julia and I were younger we used to pretend that you were still here and being five/six we called you Rosy.' He shrugged casually, but I could see a blush starting to creep into his cheeks.

'So what are you three thinking of doing today?' Father asked curious.

'Swimming!' Julia suggested.

'Broomstick riding! I wanna see if a certain someone is truly as good as she says she is.' Gavin winked at me from across the table.

'What do you wanna do Rose?' Julia asked.

'Well I like swimming, but I don't have a swimming suit and I like broomstick riding, but I'd have to borrow a broom.' I replied thinking all my options through.

'Well, you could borrow a pair of my swimmers.' Julia suggested.

'And we don't mind letting you borrow a broomstick.' Gavin added.

'Ok, then we'll do both!' I decided. 'Will ride on brooms until lunch and go swimming after that.'

'Ok great.' The other two smiled.

'We can play quidditch!' Gavin cheered.

'You wish, Rose might not even know how to play quidditch! Not to mention you can't play with just three people!'

'Do you know how to play quidditch?' Gavin asked.

'Well... Not really, I've watched how they play it at school, but I've never actually played it myself.'

'We can teach you, right Julia?'

'Right, Gavin.' She nodded then we went to our bedrooms to get changed out of pyjamas and into some clothes that would be comfortable to ride brooms in. While I was in my room I said a proper good morning to Mabel and fed her breakfast, which of course made her happy, then just to make her even happier I decided to take her outside with us to let her have a run around and explore for a while.

Then Gavin and Julia showed me where they kept their brooms and quidditch stuff, inside a shed at the back of the garden and it surprised me that I hadn't seen it from my window, but as soon as we got the stuff we were ready to play and I mounted my broom eagerly, taking off into the bright blue sky. Once I was higher than the house I looked down and waved to my brother and sister who soon mounted their own brooms and joined me, floating mid air grinning at each other.

'Ready to start?' Gavin asked.

'I thought we we're gonna have a rematch first.' I grinned.

'As you wish.'

'Can I join in too?' Julia asked, we nodded.

'Of course.' I replied and we moved to the starting line, but before we were ready to get moving Father came out to start the race for us.

'Ready, set, go!' He shouted and we took off, zooming around the giant house. We jostled for position, each one of us wanting to get to the front, but it wasn't too long before I took the lead.

'Woo hoo!' I cried out as I spurred my broom on, faster and faster, my siblings just behind me or at least until Julia got a burst of speed and over took me. I stuck my tongue out at her as she glanced over her shoulder and smiled easily at me.

'I'm winning!' She cheered.

'Not for much longer!' Gavin called and he raced past me. I pulled back as we leaned into a curve and I growled as he turned his head around and smirked at me. So I raced forward and we all tried to go as fast as we could and cheered as we crossed the finish line, in a tie! We cheered in unison and landed together, smiling as Father walked over to us.

'Well done!' He praised us.

'Yeah, good job pipsqueak.' Gavin patted my shoulder. 'You managed to stay on your broom this time, good job.'

'Ha ha.' I rolled my eyes.

'Well I say that I won.' Julia boasted jokingly.

'Really? By what? A nose?' Gavin asked. We all burst out laughing, accept Father who by the look of it wasn't amused (apparently the "Snape nose" is a very common joke with these two and Father has been known to get a little upset about it). 'Sorry Dad.' He said looking to father.

'What for that was hilarious!' He started laughing with us. 'But seriously, be thankful you didn't get the nose because it's still possible.' He held up his wand.

'Why don't you just just change your nose then Father?' I asked.

'Because, it's who I am.' He smiled, shrugging.

'Fair enough.' I replied.

'Now isn't it time that we taught you how to play quidditch?' Gavin suggested, I nodded eagerly.

I new a little about quidditch from Harry, Ron and Draco, I knew that if your teams seeker caught the snitch that you automatically won the game (as Harry has done on several occasions) and I knew that you had to get the quaffle past the keeper into one of the hoops to get a goal. So I knew a little, but I still had a lot to learn.

'Ok so this is-'

'The quaffle.' I cut Gavin off. We were now standing in front of their container that held all the balls (it's almost exactly like the one Madame Hooch uses at Hogwarts).

'Good, can you tell me what the rest of these are?'

'Ok sure, so there's the quaffle, that's a bludger and of course the snitch. That's easy.' I nodded triumphantly.

'Great so you know the names of the balls, but do you know the positions?' Julia asked, I glanced at Father, too easy.

'So there's the keepers, they defend the hoops, the chasers they handle the quaffle down to the hoops to try and score a goal, the beaters and the seekers; the seekers have to catch the snitch, the team whose seeker catches the snitch wins.'

'Awesome, how do know this stuff?' Julia asked curious.

'My friends Harry, Ron and Draco play on the quidditch teams at school.'

'You know Draco Malfoy?' Gavin asked surprised, I nodded.

'Yeah, it's interesting being his friend as Harry and him aren't very friendly with each other.'

'Wait, you're friends with Harry Potter?' Julia and Gavin gasped.

'Yes, he's a great friend.'

'Oh my gosh! My little sister is friends with Harry Potter!' Julia squealed.

'Yeah, so?'

'He stopped You-Know-Who! He's The Boy Who Lived!' Gavin clarified.

'Yeah, so? He's done it again since then, twice actually.'

'What?!' They asked shocked.

'Why don't we go inside and I'm sure Rose will tell you all about it?' Father suggested.

'What about quidditch?' Gavin asked slightly disappointed.

'Stuff quidditch, I wanna hear this!' Julia said and she dropped her broom and ran back to the house.

'Sorry Gav- uh Gavin.'

'Hey, I like that, Julia used to call me that until we started going to school.'

'Alright then Gav, let's go.' I said and we dropped our brooms and followed after Julia, Father trailed behind us.

Once we were all sitting comfortably in the lounge room I began telling my story, I started with when I got my Hogwarts letter, it was needless to say that the others weren't impressed by the way Mr Partridge reacted, but their mood improved by the time I talked about going to Diagon Alley for the first time.

'You really can't stay on your feet, can you Rose?' Father smirked, I poked my tongue out at him.

'So you had never been to Diagon Alley before that?' Julia asked, I shook my head.

'Never. Anyway, we went into Madame Malkin's to get my Hogwarts robes and it was there that I first met Oliver Wood, he was nice and he told me a little about the school before I had to go and we headed to Olivanders.'

'Oh dear, how many wand did you go through?' Julia asked cheekily.

'Three, before I found mine.'

'Wow, I found mine on my fifth, but Gavin tried eight before he found his! We were beginning to think that no wand would choose him!'

'Hmph.' Gavin sulked.

'Oh get over it Gavin! Anyway what's your wand?'

'Fourteen inch oak with the core of a hippogriff talon.' I replied proudly.

'Never heard of that before.'

'I have they're really rare, but still not as rear as wand with a phoenix feather core.' Gavin added.

'Harry's got that.' I remembered. 'Anyway...'

I continued on with the story, describing the train ride, the sorting ceremony and several classes until I got to the troll attack on Hallowe'en. Of course my siblings were interested to hear how we celebrate Hallowe'en, but it definitely wasn't one of my favourite memories of that year.

'Then on Hallowe'en a mountain troll got into the castle.' They gasped. 'I had just been yelling at Ron for upsetting Hermione and had gone back to the bathroom to try and get her to come out. When she did finally come out the troll came into the bathroom, on my recommendation we hid in the cubicles which worked until the troll knocked them down using his club. Luckily Harry and Ron came to rescue us, Hermione crawled under the debris until I reached a cubicle that was still standing and I stood up, I was about to come out and try to help when the troll swung his club again and knocked it down on top of me and that's the last thing I remember.'

'Oh my gosh! Were you alright? Are you ok now?' Julia started freaking out.

'Calm down Jules, she's obviously ok now.' Gavin put his hand on his twins shoulder.

'I woke up in the hospital wing, I have no idea how long I was out for then Professor McGonagall took the first shift to stay up with me because I couldn't go to sleep due to the concussion.'

'You had a concussion?' Gavin asked concerned.

'Yeah, but Professor McGonagall was actually really fun to talk to and despite being really tired she managed to keep me awake until Father came to relieve her. Of course I had no idea we were related and just saw him as the rather terrifying potions master that everyone else saw him as.'

'Really?'

'Oh yeah, you should see how he frightens students on purpose, no offence Father, but you can be quite scary.'

'That's how it's supposed to be.' He replied.

'Right... Anyway he told me what the others said had happened and I told him my version, but soon I fell asleep which led to me falling into a coma.' I noticed Father slink back in his chair slightly and avert his gaze to the floor. 'I woke up again a month and a half later and then classes returned to normal...' I then proceeded to where the trouble really started while only briefly mentioning our original suspect.

'You thought I was going to steal the Philosopher Stone?' Father said shocked, I nodded sheepishly.

'I had my doubts when I saw you and Quirrell that night near the mirror of Erised.'

'You saw that? How?'

'Uh, I can't say.' I added. 'Wait- you found me wit Filch that night, you stopped him.'

'Yes, I did. I didn't want him to hurt you anymore.'

'So you knew... You knew who I was...'

'Yes, I admit I did.'

'That's why you rushed to the hospital wing when you found out I was awake after the coma and Madame Pomfrey got angry with you.' I stated, he nodded. 'That explains a few things, but if you knew why didn't you tell me before?'

'I believed you were better off not knowing about your true family, you are now in terrible danger since your identity has been revealed.'

'Why?' I asked.

'It's best you don't know until the time is right.'

'Argh!' I groaned. 'Fine, whatever.' I continued on and finally finished the story just in time for lunch.

'You helped Harry Potter defeat You-Know-Who! Oh my gosh! That gives me a whole new respect for you.' Gavin smiled.

'Thanks.' I felt blush starting to creep into my cheeks.

'Come on you three, let's go get some lunch and I'll introduce you to the house elves, Rose.' He said and led us back into the kitchen. My stomach dropped, we had house elves? Perhaps Father was still more of a Slytherin than I knew. 'Mimi!' He called a split second later a "pop" sounded in the kitchen and a house elf appeared next to the table.

'Yes Master Snape?' She asked. I was surprised to see that she was well dressed in a lavender long sleeve shirt and black pants complete with shiny black shoes.

'Mimi, I would like you to meet my youngest daughter Rose. Rose meet you one of our house elves Mimi.'

'Mistress Rose! Mimi has heard so much about you.' She smiled.

'Hi Mimi, it's nice to meet you.' I returned the smile.

'It is an honour to meet you Mistress Rose.'

'Mimi, has lunch been prepared?'

'Yes Master Snape, Mimi made sure of it.'

'Thank you Mimi, you may go.' He smiled then the young house elf disappeared.

'You treat them as equals?' I asked shocked.

'Yes, we cloth them, feed them, pay them and they're free to leave whenever they want.' Father explained.

'Of course we've never had any of our house elves leave.' Julia smiled.

'That's because they love us so much.' Gavin added cheekily.

'I wish all house elves were treated as nicely.' I murmured remembering Dobby and Malfoy Senior. That reminded me I needed to write to my friends about the last two days, well when I say friends I mean Hermione, Harry and Draco as I knew Ron probably wouldn't look at any letters he received unless they were from Harry and he would probably pass any news on anyway.

So after lunch I went back up to my room, took out several pieces of parchment along with my quill and the phoenix feather quill that Draco had given me for Christmas last year. Then sitting down at my mahogany desk started to write.

 _Dear Draco,_

 _Thanks for your letter, you were right Julia had already told me that you met several times before, in fact she told me that she and Gavin used to stay at your house while Father taught at Hogwarts. Anyway things here are great, my room is huge! At least twice the size of my old one and I absolutely love it! The walls are enchanted so they change colour depending on my mood, I'll show it too you if you come over, still it feels strange not having to be worried about Mr Partridge getting angry with me and I miss Mrs Partridge._

 _As for my siblings they're great! They are indeed hilarious, warm and funny, Gavin and I had our differences at first, but now we as good friends. Julia and I hit it off like a house on fire (muggle expression) it turns out that we have a lot in common. Now I'm sure you remember the last time I rode a broom (it involved insults), well yesterday I challenged Gavin to a race and I would have won except a certain black owl flew in front of me and in my attempt to avoid it I fell from my broom. However Gavin saved me, so in a way you brought the two of us closer together._

 _Still don't worry about Hermione I'll send her a letter as soon as possible, along with Harry and I promise I have no intention of "judging you" for calling your owl Shadow I actually think it's quite appropriate and cute._

 _P.S. This is Julia's owl Cleo._

 _Be sure to write back soon,_

 _Rose._

After waiting a few moment for the ink to dry I folded the piece of parchment, putting it aside until I could get and envelope to put it in and started writing my next letter.

 _Dear Harry,_

 _How are you? I understand if you don't reply to this letter, so don't worry about it. Things here are great; my worries about Julia and Gavin were silly, they're awesome siblings and the house is huge! Still I wish you were here with me, it would be nice to have one of my friends here to help break the ice a little better._

 _Anyway, what's going on over there? Had anymore visits from Dobby? Is Dudley still being a pain? If he is drop a hint or two about me, just remember to use my adopted name "Stephanie"because he won't know what you're talking about if you mention "Rose", so just tell him that if he stops being mean that I might send him a letter and tell him that I'll know if he does anything bad to you or anyone else for that matter. Ok? I think that might get him of your case for a while and I'll be sure to send him a letter if he does improve just to make sure he stays a bit nicer._

 _I promise that I'll get my Father to try and get you over for a visit this Summer so you can have some fun and get away from those people you live with, I'm sure he'll agree and I don't think it would take much to get your Aunt and Uncle to agree to the idea given how easily he got me away from my foster family._

 _Keep your hopes up and as I'm not sending a letter to Ron you might wanna pass on anything you think he might wanna know from this and any future letters, but for now goodbye and I'm looking forward to seeing you again._

 _P.S. This is my sister's owl Cleo._

 _Rose._

I then folded the piece of paper before hunting around for an envelope until I found one in one of the several draws in my desk with a note that read: "though you might need these" on top of them. I smiled, Father definitely knew more about me than I thought. So after writing the name and address of the recipients I put the letters in two of the envelopes and prepared to write my third which of course would be addressed to my best girl-friend Hermione.

Knowing that she would want plenty of detail and not too much sentimental mush I made sure to describe everything in perfect detail before signing it and putting it in its own envelope. I then asked Julia to help me send them and she tied them to Cleo's leg, giving her specific instructions on where to send them and to only wait for a reply from Hermione as both the boys had their own owls. I had my reply from Hermione within the hour, she was always prompt after all.

Dear Rose,

Thanks for writing, I know it's only been a day since we parted ways at Kings Cross, but I had to know how you were and if living with Snape was any better than with your foster family (judging by your letter I'm assuming that answer is a definite "yes"). I was so desperate for answers I even wrote to Malfoy asking if he had heard from you! I don't think he found that pleasant as the only reply I received was a "no" written on the back of my letter.

Anyway, how are your siblings? Are they nice? Do the treat you well? What are their names? They identical or fraternal twins? Are they older or younger than you?

Sorry for asking so many questions, I'm just so happy for you and I want to know everything about your new life, that is if you don't mind. Still, how's Mabel? Does she like your new home? Oh sorry, asking questions again, I am so silly.

Things here are quiet (as usual), I've re-read the story you gave me for Christmas last year because I just love it! Other than that not much has happened, well except for Crookshanks being sick in my Dad's shoes (poor thing), Dad said it was no big deal, but I could tell that if I hadn't been around my cat would have met some kind of "unfortunate accident" if you get what I mean. Luckily I was able to make amends and excuse my cat of any punishment by first buying my Dad a new pair of shoes and second taking Crookshanks to the vet. So all's well that ends well.

Write back soon, sorry for asking so many questions,

Hermione.

I laughed, poor Crookshanks, who knows what kind of trouble he might have gotten into if it hadn't been for his kind owner, but I thought I should leave it for a while before answering her letter as I had some unfinished business with a pool to attend to first.

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	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Thanks for reading this, hope you like this new chapter!**

 **Phoenixx Rising - I'm so glad you liked it, thank you for the comment and while there aren't any letters in this chapter, there will be a surprise visitor!**

 **Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter and I am not making any money from this.**

I admired myself in the mirror in my bedroom, I was now wearing my older sister's hot pink one-piece swimsuit. She hadn't worn it in several years as it had become to small for her and she said I could keep it, but as I observed my appearance I started to wonder whether this was a good idea. The swimmers had two straps over my shoulders, a modestly low front and what seemed to be a small "skirt" that started at my waist and went down to cover the top half of my thighs, it really is very pretty, but there was a lot it didn't cover. It left the majority of my back, shoulders and arms exposed, revealing the scars that I have kept hidden as long as I can remember.

I had been been beaten so many times it was hard to remember what was the reason for each of them or what the outcome was, though I could remember several, because while the majority of them were just lines and cuts others were words that had been written onto my skin, they were the things that would haunt me forever.

Freak, wimp, brat, urchin. These words were now a part of me, carved into the flesh across my back with freak being the largest. I shuddered as I remember the cold sharp edge of the knife scraping across my skin, I screamed and tried to force my way out of his grip, but he was too strong. The blood poured out of me onto the carpet and only when he had written the last word did he stop and let me go. I was able to wash away the blood and the tears, but the scars never left.

I jumped when there was a knock on my door, I didn't want anyone to see me like this, no one knows the full extent of what happened to me with those people and I had no intention of letting it slip out now. I was about to change back when the door opened to reveal Julia.

'You look great, Rose, I'm so happy it fits.' She smiled and started walking in. I nervously stepped backwards toward the wall.

'Yeah it does.' I nodded and smiled nervously.

'Come on then, let's go.'

'Uh... You go, I'll down in a minute.' She looked at me skeptical.

'What's the matter? Scared you'll get sunburn?' She asked. I nodded.

That was it! I was trying to think of a reason not to go and she provided me with one! How fortunate.

'Yes, I just don't want to get burned.' I nodded.

'Worry not, sis. I've got sunscreen and a rashie you can use.' Then she went and got it for me, so I put it on and we both went to meet Gavin by the pool. Crisis avoided.

As soon as the pool was in sight we raced toward it and cannonballed into it! he splash was tremendous, especially Gavin jumped with us at the last second! I smiled as the cool water washed up over my head and I sunk to the bottom of the pool, then I pushed off the floor and started going back up. As soon as the three of us came back up to the surface we burst out laughing!

'Merlin's beard that was fun!' Gavin cried as we swam to the edge of the pool.

'Merlin's beard?' I asked confused.

'Wizard saying.' Julia clarified.

'Oh.' I nodded.

'Race you from one end of the pool to the other?' Julia suggested.

'You're on.' I grinned and we went to one end then on Gavin's mark we pushed off from the wall and started swimming up the pool. The water felt wonderful and cool on my hot skin as it moved past me. My arms and legs swimming in perfect time with each other and I turned my head to the side to breathe every three strokes, making sure not to swallow any of the water. I kicked my legs and streamed through the water, before I knew it my hand came in contact with the wall. I stood up, shaking some of the water out of my hair and wiping it out of my eyes. I was surprised when I saw Julia still coming; I'd won!

'Nice job, Rose.' She smiled, seconds later when she finished.

'Thanks.' I blushed.

'Hey, Rose! Come and have a go on the slide!' Gavin called from the water slide, so Julia and I climbed out and walked over. 'Go on.' He grinned.

I went up the ladder and sat at the top, looking down it seemed as if I was at least a metre above the water and I pushed myself forward. I screamed as I felt myself sliding on the slippery smooth surface of the slide, my wet hair flying behind me as I was launched off the end and into the air. For a split second I felt like I could fly! Then I plummeted into the water below, laughing and giggling as the splash wet my siblings.

'That was awesome!' I shouted when my head broke the surface and I was able to breathe again.

'Watch out!' Julia called as she rushed down the slide and splashed in next to me.

'My turn!' Gavin shouted and he whooped, speeding towards us and he landed in the water, smiling crazily.

I turned to look at my brother and sister as we all had the same thought:

'Lets do it again!'

We continued to swim and play all afternoon until it started getting late and Father ordered us back inside where we each had a shower and got into our pyjamas. Julia even taught me a spell for washing my hair which meant I could do it ten times faster! I had just fed Mabel when I noticed an unopened letter on my desk, I walked over and opened it, it was from Draco, but instead of reading it I then went down stairs to dinner.

I was definitely getting to know my way around the house better and I wasn't getting lost which was always good, however there was something that bothered me, the spare room across from mine. No one ever went in or out and I couldn't help wondering why? Still I shrugged it off and went down the large carpeted staircase and headed to the kitchen.

Everyone was already sitting around the table when I joined them, on the plate in front of my was spaghetti bolognese. I smiled, I loved spaghetti bolognese, it's one of my all time favourite foods! It didn't take long before we all got stuck into the delicious food and a happy silence hung in the air as we stuffed our faces. I laughed as Gavin spilled sauced all down his chin and he smirked as I sucked in a long strand of pasta and slurped. It was inevitable that we all started laughing when Julia got a piece of pasta stuck to her cheek.

'This has been a great day.' I smiled.

'Indeed it has.' Father nodded. 'I am glad to see the three of you are getting along so well and are having fun.'

'Yeah, it's great to have you back sis.' Gavin and Julia smiled.

The long Summer days continued to roll on and they soon turned into weeks, we siblings grew to learn more and more about each other and by the time I saw the letter that Draco had sent me again I barely even missed my school friends. So it was quite a shock when I came downstairs after doing some reading in my room expecting an ordinary Monday and found Draco sitting in our lounge room.

'Draco!' I shrieked and ran over to the blonde boy, enveloping him in as bigger bear hug as I could manage.

'Hey Rose!' He laughed, grinning wildly at the reception.

'Why didn't you tell me you were coming?'

'We wanted it to be a surprise.' He replied as Father walked in.

'Thank you, Father.' I smiled happily.

'You're welcome, but there are a few other people you should meet.' He said and we followed him out into the kitchen. I froze when I saw who he was talking about; at the table sat a middle aged man and woman, both with blonde/white hair. Mr and Mrs Malfoy.

Draco slipped his hand into mine behind our backs and gave it a reassuring squeeze, but despite the comfort it gave me it wasn't enough to make me speak and who could blame me? While I had never met Mrs Malfoy, I had seen and heard far to much of Mr Malfoy.

'Mother, Father, is my friend Rose. Rose these are my parents.' Draco formally introduced us. Quickly I composed myself enough to speak.

'It's nice to meet you Mrs Malfoy and it's nice to see you again Mr Malfoy.'

'Indeed it is Rose.' Malfoy Senior nodded in agreement. 'However I must convey my heartfelt apologies on my behaviour in the past.' I was shocked since when did Lucius Malfoy apologise? 'I can understand your confusion, but you see I'm not nearly as unkind as I pretend to be.'

'In order to do our part in You-Know-Who's plan we have to pretend to be on his side, therefore we have to be stuck up, snotty, "blood prejudice" and do basically whatever he tells us to do.' Draco added.

'So you did put the diary in Ginny's cauldron.' He nodded reluctantly. 'Ginny, Harry and I could have died! All the muggle-borns in the school could have been killed!'

'You're right and I'm sorry, but my family would have suffered if I didn't.' I took in the sincerity and worry on his face as he thought about his family, I can understand why he did it when his family was at stake.

'What about Dobby?'

'Once again that was an act, however I commend you and Mr Potter for caring about him and disliking the way I treated him.'

'That reminds me, may I speak to you in Private for a moment young Mr Malfoy.' I asked looking at Draco before dragging him out the door.

'If you're wondering why I never told you it's because-'

'I fully understand, don't worry. The reason I wanted to talk to you was about Dobby.'

'What about him?'

'He came to visit me just before we were due to come back to school, he told me someone was planning something and that he had been sent to stop me from going because it wasn't safe. However he wouldn't tell me who sent him, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?' I asked raising an eyebrow.

Before he could answer we heard giggling from in the lounge room, Draco flushed red and we peeked in to see Julia and Gavin on the floor in hysterics. I shook my head and growled, there was no way I was going to get an answer out of him now especially since he was as red as a tomato.

'Sorry.' Julia said laughing loudly.

'What's so funny?' I asked.

'Uh nothing.' Gavin cleared his throat in an attempt to compose himself before elbowing his twin sister in the ribs.

'Ow!' She jumped, but the two of them continued to smirk, snort and giggle quietly. However seconds later they looked up at us and went dead silent, their faces dropping, Draco and I turned to see Father lurking behind us.

'Julia, Gavin, I hope you two aren't causing trouble.' He spoke using the dark "Hogwarts professor" tone of voice, sending shivers down my spine.

'No sir.' Gavin shook his head.

'Wouldn't think of it.' Julia added.

'Good.' He nodded. 'Now why don't the four of you go and play.' Gavin and Julia got up and sprinted past us headed to the games room, while I looked up and smiled at Father.

'Thanks.'

'You're welcome.' He replied. 'Now go and have some fun.' Then Draco and I raced after my siblings.

Once we got to the games room I taught the three of them how to play scissors, paper, rock so we could vs each other as for who got to choose what game we would play. I was surprised to find out they had their own wizard version of it, it involved a cloak, a stone and a wand.

'Cloak covers stone, stone crushes wand, wand destroys cloak.' Gavin explained.

'Cool, where'd you hear this?' I asked.

'Well the stone, cloak and wand are all part of some old legend... I think it was something or other Hallows, but I'm not sure.' Julia mused.

'Something like that, but who cares, let's just do this so I can win.' Gavin grinned determined, however his expression soon changed when Draco beat him and said we should play Mariokart. So it was agreed and we set up to play.

'Yahoo!' I shrieked as I (or rather Princess Peach) crossed the finish line in first place.

'Oh come on!' Gavin threw his remote down on the lounge next to him.

'You did better that time.' Julia put her hand on his shoulder. 'At least you finished.'

It was true, while I had won, followed by Draco (in second, Julia had come in sixth and Gavin had lost. I soon discovered that my brother wasn't much of a driver in this game, but he was improving with each game however he didn't agree.

'I'm rubbish at this game.'

'Don't give up yet Gavin, you still have your manly pride to uphold.' Draco tried to encourage his friend.

'Ok.' Gavin nodded sighing. 'Let's go again.'

So we did and again and again and again... For the next two hours and by then Gavin was starting to come seventh and eighth and he was loving it! Draco and I even lost on purpose a few times so that he would do better.

'Thanks for doing that.' I whispered.

'It's alright, anything for a friend.' He flashed me a small smile before looking to Gavin. 'Come on Gav, I recon you could win this time!'

After that I remembered that I still had something to show my friend and I had to drag him away from the games room to show it to him.

'Come on!' I urged. Pulling him toward the stairs.

'You're really strong Rose.'

'Thanks.'

'So what is it that you want to show me?' He asked as we stood at the top of the stairs.

'This.' I said and I led into my room. He stared in awe as the walls swirled through their hundreds of shades unsure of what to settle on, until they chose a happy yellow.

'Wow...' He breathed. 'I've never been in here before.'

'This is my room and...' My eyes landed on a small form that was curled up in the middle of my bed. 'This is Mabel, my cat.' I introduced them as we sat on bed and patted her. I was glad to see that they seemed to like each other.

'She's cute.' He smiled, gently rubbing her head. Mabel purred in response.

'I'm sure that means thank you.' I giggled.

'Well in that case, you're welcome.' The boy then stood up and walked over to my desk. 'So this is where you answer my letters, I wondered where you did that.' I came over to join him.

'Yeah, Shadow brings them up here and usually I give my letters to Cleo to send back or sometimes-'

'You send them back with Shadow.' He nodded.

'Yeah.'

'Anyway, Gavin and Julia will probably be missing us...'

'We should go back.' I nodded and we headed downstairs, however I couldn't help overhearing what was being said in the kitchen as we passed.

'I'm so glad to see that our son has a new friend.' That sounded like Narcissa.

'Indeed, but I am worried about what that will mean when they go back to school, Rose is friends with Mr Potter after all.' Lucius mused.

'My daughter is wise and she knows not to tell any of what she has discovered today to her friends.' Father replied.

I glanced at Draco who was oblivious to what had just been spoken. What did that mean though? I knew obviously I couldn't tell the others that Draco and the Malfoy's were nice people and that it was just an act, but did that also mean that I couldn't tell them that he had come to visit? After all they already Know we're friends... Still I shook the thoughts from my mind, I would just have to ask Father about it later.

'Where did you two disappear to?' Julia asked when we walked into the games room and sat down next to the twins.

'I wanted to show Draco my room.' I replied.

'Oh, ok.' She nodded, though I could make the smallest hint of a smirk lingering on her lips.

'Now, I challenge Julia to a race, just the two of us.' I smiled and it was on

Unfortunately just seconds after we finished and were all laughing like hyenas Father came in and told us it was time for Draco to go home to Malfoy Manner.

'Aw.' We all moaned.

'Can't he stay for a little longer?' I asked, Father shook his head.

'I'm afraid not, Lucius and Narcissa have some business with the Ministry tomorrow and they need to go home and prepare.'

'Ok.' I grumped as we walked back to the lounge where Draco's parents were waiting for us so they could floo back to their house.

'Hey, I'll be back.' Draco whispered, flashing me a grin as he tried to cheer me up.

'Promise?'

'Promise.' He nodded and he went to stand with his mother and father.

'It's been good to see you again Severus.' Narcissa smiled.

'And you as well.' Father nodded. 'Come back again soon.'

'We will.' Lucius agreed before turning his gaze to me. 'I am glad to have straightened out our misunderstanding Rose and I can assure you that we will bring our son back to visit you soon.' He fondly ruffled Draco's hair and I smiled as blush once again began to creep into the boy's cheeks.

'Thank you, Mr Malfoy.'

'Our pleasure.'

The man then stepped into the fireplace and within seconds returned home, quickly followed by his wife, I gave a small wave to Draco who returned it as the green flames engulfed him and he disappeared.

'Well children, did you have fun?'

'Yeah!' We all nodded vigorously.

'I'm glad to hear it. Now, I think the three of you should go have your showers then come back down here ready for dinner.'

'Ok.' The three of us raced upstairs to do as he asked.

 **Don't forget to comment!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yo peeps! Lexa here! What's going on? I would just like to that Phoenixx Rising for always reading and reviewing my story! I really appreciate it!**

 **Now my good friends I present chapter seven of my story!**

I sighed happily, leaning my head back against my pillow, today had been amazing! I had spent all afternoon with one of my best friends and then had a warm shower followed by a great dinner. Now I let my eyelids close as they grew heavy and I felt myself settle into a peaceful sleep.

Or at least that was what I had hoped it would be.

DREAM

My mind was like a black empty abyss, with nothing but a swirling grey mist to see. However my hearing was a different story, at first there was silence, but then noise started to fade in. It was hard to make out, but I was able to understand some of it, it sounded like a boy speaking.

"What do mean?" The speech went murky as I tried to comprehend it. "Why should I believe you?"

"She told me so." This was a different voice, one I felt that I should know, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Yeah right."

The conversation then faded away only to be replaced with a new one.

"What do you think?" This time it was a girls voice.

"I don't know." Now it sounded like a mans.

"This will come as a bit of a shock."

"I know, but this is important."

"Wait-"

END DREAM

My eyes bolted open and I glanced around in the darkness of my room, unsure of what had happened in my dream. This was by far one of the strangest dreams I have had and knowing that I wasn't going to get back to sleep anytime soon I decided to go and get a drink from the kitchen.

I crept through the corridors, past my siblings bedrooms and cringed as the floor creaked underfoot. I sighed in relief as I heard a soft snore from one of the rooms, telling me that I hadn't woken the inhabitant and continued on my way down the stairs. At which point I wish that I had got a more advanced charms textbook so I could conjure some kind of silence charm, that way I wouldn't have to worry about being loud and could go anywhere I please without being heard. You gotta admit that would be great! Still I was able to sneak through the night until I turned a corner and saw that the kitchen light was on.

 _Oh great. Who in their right mind is up at this hour? Apart from me because I am obviously not in my right mind._

Still I decided to face the music, whoever it was might be able to make some sense of my dream. As I walked in I was surprised to see Julia and Father in what looked to be a rather private conversation and I knew instantly that I shouldn't have intruded as they stopped and stared at me.

'Hi.' I murmured embarrassed.

'What are you doing out of bed this late?' Father asked concerned.

'I could ask the same of you two.' I quirked an eyebrow and walked over to the cupboard to grab a glass. 'To answer your question, though, I came to get a drink.' I then turned on the tap and filled my glass.

'I see.' Father nodded. 'What woke you?'

'Uh... Nothing.' I lied, swallowing a mouthful of cool water.

'I'll see you both in the morning.' Julia said quietly and left.

Father then got up and walked over to me, he put his hand on my shoulder just as I placed my cup down on the counter and looked at me his eyes showing concern.

'What happened?'

'I... Had a dream.'

'What kind of dream?'

'A strange one. At first all I saw was black, then a soft grey mist started swirling around and I began to hear noise, I heard talking it was a boy. He said something about why should I believe you? Then another male voice answered and after that faded away I heard a girl and a man speaking. They were talking about something and they said it was important, but I woke up before I heard what they were actually talking about.' I explained. I noticed Fathers eyes widen as I told him about the second conversation.

'I see.' He murmured. While he didn't say much his expression told me that he knew there was something more to it, but obviously he didn't want to tell me what and that frustrated me, so I decided to press on.

'What do you think?' I asked.

'We'll talk about it more in the morning, but for now I think you need to go back to bed.' I groaned annoyed, but he then led me back upstairs into my room and tucked me in.

'Promise you'll tell me what you think tomorrow.'

'Of course.' He nodded.

'Goodnight Father.' I smiled sleepily.

'Goodnight my Rose.' He gently cupped the side of my face before making a quiet retreat to the door and slipped out into the corridor. I soon fell asleep again.

Unsurprisingly I slept in a little late the next morning, but Julia didn't get up until about ten which told me that her Father must have talked for quite a while before I interrupted last night and that made me curious; what were they talking about? Gavin must have noticed that I was deep in thought because he waved his hand in my face to get my attention.

'Hello! Earth to Rose!'

I jumped a little startled before poking my tongue out at him.

'Yes?'

'Are you still awake?'

'Well I'm not sleep walking if that's what you mean.'

'Well then why are you off with the pixies?'

'I was just thinking.'

'Alright then.' He nodded.

'Why don't you two go and play, I'm sure Julia will be down soon to join you.' Father smiled. My brother and I stood up, but while he headed toward the door I headed over to Father. The boy quirked a brow at me and I flashed him a quick smile.

'You go on ahead, I'll be there in a minute to kick your butt!'

'You're on.' He grinned and ran off to the games room.

'So what can I do for you?' Father asked.

'I want to know what my dream meant.' I replied.

'Oh that. It was probably nothing, after all you have had dreams before right?' He shrugged it's off.

'Yes, but they all seem to mean something of late.'

'I'm sure that it was just a dream, meant to occupy you in your sleep.' He assured me. 'Now you'd best go and catch up with your brother.' He said and guided me out of the kitchen and down the hall before turning to go up the stairs while I continued to the games room, annoyed that he didn't think anything of my peculiar dream.

How could he not be even the smallest bit interested? After all he was there when I was taken to Dumbledore because of my nightmares, he used legilimens to see what I saw and he knows they were actually memories! Still he thinks it nothing. Why? What is he not telling me?

However such thoughts were soon far away as I played with my brother and tackled him to the ground after I lost to him. We were both laughing hysterically as we tickled each other relentlessly, neither one of us willing to give in!

'You should quit while you're ahead Gavin!' I smirked.

'Oh come on Rose, you're the one who should quit.'

'Well how do you like this!' I smiled evilly as I worked my fingers to the bone while tickling my brothers over-sensitive feet, causing him to writhe and twist while giggling and roaring with laughter.

'No!' He shrieked, trying to get away from me.

'Do you give in?'

'Never!'

'Ok then.' I said starting to crack up.

While he tried to tickle the back of my neck and I accidentally bit down hard on my lip to stop me from laughing and instead cried out in pain as blood poured from the teeth marks. Gavin instantly stopped and looked at me concerned.

'Are you alright?' He asked worried.

'I'm fine, don't worry.' I replied, trying to stop the bleeding with my hand.

'Come on, let's go get your a tissue.' He helped me up and we headed back to the kitchen.

'Hello again you two- oh my goodness what happened?' Father asked seeing the blood that now covered my lips, chin and hands.

'We were playing and I bit my lip.' I explained, noticing Father give Gavin a sharp glare as I grabbed a tissue.

'Go wash it off in the bathroom.' He suggested, thinking that was a good idea I left the kitchen and sent to wash.

I observed my appearance in the mirror and understood why my father was more than a little shocked. The blood was starting to dry now and had caked my lips and chin, making it a little harder to get off, but I managed and returned to the kitchen clean only to see Father abusing my brother.

'I told you to take care of her while she's here!' Father yelled while standing over the top of Gavin, staring down at him as his obsidian eyes bore their way through the boy.

'Dad it was just-'

'None of your excuses. I am appalled that you would even attack your younger sister, much less hurt her and even after I warned you that I wanted her to feel loved and accepted here! What kind of an older brother are you?'

'Dad please it was a game-'. The boy tried to explain, but was silenced by a hand.

'Go back to your room and stay there until I come and say otherwise.'

Gavin hung his head, I watched as his eyes lingered on the floor at Fathers feet for a moment before he started to walk towards the door. It was then that I came in and decided to clear this up. I put my hand on his shoulder and gave him a small smile, telling him that I would handle it, however his eyes widened as he realised I wasn't going to do it the way he expected.

'Father.' I said quietly, the as he turned around.

'Are you alright?' He asked.

'Yes.' I nodded. 'Unlike Gavin.' Father looked at me, confusion flashed across his face for a moment. 'I must say I admire you; your intelligence and your skill, but honestly you need to work on believing in people, especially your son.'

'Thank you, but what do you mean?'

'Gavin was telling the truth; we were playing the Wii and got into a tickle fight, I bit my lip by accident, it wasn't his fault and I would expect you to ask what happened before jumping to conclusions. I know it would have been a little frightening to see my face covered in blood, but you should have just let us explain.'

'You're right. I'm sorry, both of you.'

'That's ok.' Gavin nodded, but I could see that he was upset.

'You know Father, I think this requires a little more than an apology.' I raised an eyebrow.

'Then what?'

'I don't know about you guys, but I haven't had a hug in a while.' The boys smiled and we joined together in a group hug.

I must admit it felt strange to be held by the potions master and the older boy, yet the warm and sincerity of their embrace put me at ease and I snuggled into them. However we had to move out a little as a fourth person joined us, Julia had finally come downstairs and I noticed that her hair was damp as it brushed against my face, meaning that she must have had a shower.

'Hey.' She murmured.

'Hi.' We replied.

'What's going on?'

'Family hug.' Gavin smirked.

'Duh.' She rolled her eyes. 'Why?'

'Cause we love each other.' I smiled, glancing up at Father before looking at my sister.

When we were satisfied with our hug we each went our separate ways, with myself heading to sit outside for a while.

The sky was blue and sun was shining and it's bright rays warmed my skin as I walked out through the back door into the garden. I smiled as I turned and walked along the side of our house, the yard was bright in contrast to the grim appearance of the mansion. I felt the soft, yet slightly prickly, felling of grass under my feet and wondered exactly what had drawn me to come outside. I hadn't really explored much since I got here, sure I had seen the vast majority of the inside of the house, but I hadn't really looked around the outside and it was probably about time that I did.

I walked around, looking in every nook and cranny until I came to the large iron gates that sealed us in and away from the outside. It seemed as if the entire property was closed in by forest around the back and sides, plus this gate here at the front. Having fought He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named twice I understand the necessity of security, but while I did like the space from others it did feeling like we were cut off from the world.

'Father must have reasons.' I mused before turning and going back to the house. On the way who should I spot, but my happy cat Mabel. 'Hello Mabel.' I smiled, bending down to give her a pat. She meowed contently and nuzzled her face into my hand. 'Aw. Thank you, I'll see you back inside.' I then went into the house and headed up stairs. I walked down the corridor to my room and had just laid my hand on the door knob when I heard someone clear their throat, naturally I turned to see who it was.

'Hi Rose.' My brother murmured.

'Hi Gavin.' I replied. 'I'm sorry about before.'

'It's ok, thanks for explaining to him.'

'I couldn't let him punish you for something that wasn't your fault.'

'I appreciate it.'

'You're welcome.'

'Wanna come talk?' He asked shyly.

'Sure.' I nodded and followed him into his room.

The room was roughly the same size, equipped with a king-size bed, mahogany chest of draws, large walk in wardrobe and a TV. The walls were a deep ocean blue and matched the quilt on his bed. The carpet on the floor seemed to be the same in all our bedrooms; black and furry and there was a window in the back wall that let light into the room.

'Do you like it?' He asked.

'Yes.' I nodded taking it all in.

'Sit.' He gestured to the bed and we both sat on it.

'So... What did you want to talk about?' I asked, breaking the awkward silence that had formed between us.

'I wanted to tell you more about how things were before you came.'

My eyes widened, not only from surprise, but also curiosity. Despite half the holidays being over, I was still yet to learn about how things had been while I was away with the muggle family. Still I had the feeling this was going to be deeper than I first thought and I realised that this was going to be difficult for him.

'You don't have to do this.'

'I want to, even if Dad thinks it unwise, you're part of the family and deserve to know.' He then sighed before beginning his story. 'Julia and I were about seven when Dad finally told us what happened to Mum, neither of us harboured a grudge against him for waiting so long because we understood that he didn't want to hurt us and though we should be older. In fact he was going to wait another few years, but he was promoted to tell us when he saw the two of us playing with an imaginary version of you...' He blushed. I didn't comment so as to save his ego from anymore bruising, but I did find it kinda cute. 'We used to think about you a lot and we'd write birthday and Christmas cards to you because we knew you were out there somewhere. Dad didn't approve of us dwelling on the past so he destroyed everything we did for you...or... Almost everything.' It was then I saw him pull out the crumpled piece of parchment that I had seen him with the first time I tried to talk to him.

He then proceeded to show me what was on it; a drawing of a boy and two girls, one with scraggly red hair and the other with black. They were standing in what almost looked to be our back yard. It was us. Just the three of us. The three of us were holding hands and smiling widely, the forest behind us and a golden sun in a clear blue sky above us.

'You drew this?' I asked, tears springing to my eyes.

'Yeah.' He laughed. 'Julia and I used to argue about whether you had black or red hair, I said black and she said red.'

'Looks like you were right.'

'Yep.' He grinned. 'Anyway I hid it and made sure that Dad wouldn't find it, so that I could keep it and remember. As we got older things got harder, Dad became stern and paranoid about our welfare, so much so that he sent us to the only other two wizard schools and changed not only our appearance, but our names as well.'

'He changed your names?' I asked shocked.

'Yeah, at school I'm not known as Gavin Snape, I'm James Caron and Julia's Abigail Gelman.'

'Why?'

'I don't know.' He sighed. 'Now everyone thinks I'm a half-blood, with a younger sister who's a squib and I live with my Dad who is a public servant.'

'Woah.' I breathed knowing how hard that would be; living a life as someone else.

'What about you?'

'I used to be known as Stephanie Partridge, an ordinary muggle with no siblings and average parents. That was until I went to Hogwarts, when I was known for being friends with Harry Potter and my loathing for Malfoy.'

'Wait, but you and Draco are-'

'Friends now, yes. That only happened last year when we realised that neither of us was as bad as we thought.'

'That's good.' He smiled.

'Um...'

'What?'

'Who was our Mother?' I asked nervously.

For a moment he seemed shocked that I would ask such a question, then, however, his expression changed to that of understanding.

'I'm not sure of her name, but from the few pictures we have of her, I know that she had red hair, which is where Julia got hers from, she also had really pretty green eyes.'

'Do you remember her?'

'Bits and pieces. I remember when we used to play in the snow in the backyard and when she would tell Julia and I bedtime stories...' He smiled at the memories. 'Then when you were born.'

'How old were you?'

'Two.'

'Then how do you remember that?' I asked confused.

'Technically speaking I don't, but Dad does and one day I discovered how to view other people's memories. So I remember watching his memory.'

'That's just scary.'

'It is a bit.'

'Still, there's got to be something more that you know.' I pressed, Gavin shook his head.

'Not really.'

It was then that Julia poked her head in through the door.

'Sorry to interrupt, but dinner's ready.'

'Ok.' We nodded and we headed downstairs.

'Thanks for the chat.' I whispered.

'It's ok.' He flashed me a small smile.

 **A/N: Remember to Review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter.**

'Mistress Rose? Mistress Rose? It's time to wake up, Master Snape wants to see you for breakfast.'

I opened my eyes blearily and glanced around the room before my eyes fell upon the small female house elf that was standing beside my bed. She smiled, having successfully woke me and proceeded to explain why she had brought me forth from my pleasant sleep.

'Morning Mimi.' I smiled.

'Good morning Mistress Rose.' She said brightly. 'Sorry to wake you, but Master Snape sent Mimi to tell you that breakfast will be in ten minutes and he wants to see you downstairs.'

'Alright, thank you Mimi, you may go and tell Father that I will be down soon.'

'Yes Mistress Rose.' She nodded and disappeared with a "pop".

I sighed and shook my head; I wish she would just call me Rose. Still pulled my quilt, blankets and sheets back before swinging my legs out of bed. Standing up, I stretched and walked over into my wardrobe. Knowing that today was going to be another fun, relaxed and all round casual day I decided to put on a white t-shirt with the words "Always be Positive" written on it multiple colours and followed by a pair of jeans. Once I was dressed I glanced at myself in my mirror and headed downstairs.

Father was already sitting at the table, copy of the Daily Prophet in his hands and a plate of bacon eggs and toast in front of him. Smiling I walked over and poured both him and myself a glass of juice, then sat down at my usual spot as we waited for my siblings to join us.

'Morning Father.'

'Good morning. Did you sleep well, Rose?' The man asked placing his newspaper down on the table.

'Yes Father.' I nodded.

'I'm glad to hear that.' He smiled.

'Good morning everyone.' Gavin chirped as he walked in and sat down.

'Hey Gav.' I replied.

'Good morning Gavin.'

'Where's Julia?' I asked.

'Still in the bathroom probably.' My brother rolled his eyes.

'Not likely.' Father smirked.

'What makes you say that Dad?' Gavin asked. I tried to hold in a laugh as my sister snuck up behind up and with one swift move jabbed him in the ribs on both sides. 'Ouch!' He jumped and glared at his twin.

'Morning.' Julia smiled sweetly as sat down across from me. 'How'd you sleep dear brother?'

'Shut up.' Gavin snapped, rubbing his sides. Julia laughed.

'Sorry.'

'Don't worry about it.'

'So what are you three planning on doing today?' Father asked.

'No idea.' I shook my head.

'I don't know.' Gavin shrugged.

'Isn't someone supposed to be coming?' Julia asked raising an eyebrow.

'Who?' I asked excited.

'I'm afraid that has to remain a secret.' Father gave me a sly smile.

'Oh come on.' I mock pouted.

'Don't be like that dear, it doesn't suit your beautiful face.'

My eyes widened and I glanced around, before the one person I would never have expected to see walked through the door.

'Mum!' I cried and raced over to the brunette, it was only as I wrapped my arms around her that I realised my mistake. 'It's good to see you, Mrs Partridge.' I said stepping back, but still keeping her at arm's length. I watched her smiled turned sad as we remembered how much had changed since the last time I saw her.

'Oh you sweet little girl, I've missed you so much.'

'I've missed you too.'

'You look so different and you've grown!' She fussed over me, happily.

'Please, come and sit Mrs Partridge.' Father indicated to the seat between his and mine.

'Thank you, Mr Snape, but please call me Emma.' She stated as she sat down.

'Very well, call me Severus then.'

I looked across the table and noticed the confused look on my brothers face, I guess he wasn't told about this and I figured introductions were necessary when Mrs Partridge looked first at my siblings then at me, confusion evident in her expression.

'Mrs Partridge, this is my sister Julia and my brother Gavin.' I explained. 'Guys this is Mrs Partridge, the woman who adopted me.'

'Pleasure to meet you.' Julia smiled.

'Like wise.'

'How did you get here anyway?' I asked.

'Floo powder of course.' She smiled. My eyes widened in surprise.

'Where did you get floo powder?'

'I had some just in case of an emergency.'

'But how did you get away from...Him?'

'He was out, I left him a note saying that I was done with him. We're already going through a divorce and my lawyer can handle things for a little while without me.'

'You're divorcing him?'

'Yes.'

'But when did he get out of prison?'

'Several months ago, he tried to blame me for everything and I decided that I'd had enough. So I left, the Knight bus picked me up and took me to Diagon Alley.'

'Diagon Alley? How did they let you in? How did you remember where to go?'

'Stephanie- uh Rose. I am actually a squib.'

'What?' I asked shocked.

I had come across the term while reading some time ago; a witch or wizard born to magic parents who didn't posses any magical powers themselves, they were normally left in the muggle world and lived a normal life. I would never have suspected her to be one.

'Yes, I'm sorry I never told you, how do you think I knew your mother?'

'So the whole time you knew who I was? Who I am.'

'Yes.' She nodded. 'Please don't hold it against me.'

'I won't.'

'Thank you.' We then slipped into an awkward silence, I looked to my Father and siblings for support, not knowing what to do. 'I just can't believe that you've looked like this all your life and I never saw it.' She smiled.

'Yes, she is quite different now.' Father nodded. 'Rose-'

'I'll show her around.' I nodded.

'Good, but not quite yet.' He smiled. 'You three go play I need to talk to... Emma.'

We glanced confused at each other, but agreed just the same and exited the room all the same. I wondered what they were talking about and luckily enough I wasn't the only one, so once we were around the corner we stopped and listened to them.

'She's so different.' Mrs Partridge mused.

'Indeed, but while her appearance has changed dramatically, her attitude hasn't. She is still the same girl that you dropped off at Kings Cross last year. All the same, I'm sorry I couldn't warn you that she was close to finding out the truth, so that you be more prepared. I could imagine that wasn't easy for you to hear from her.'

'No, it wasn't. Still, she deserved to know the truth and she's a lot better off with you... How much do you know about Mr Partridge?'

'I understand that he abused her, beat her and so on.'

'That's true, but it was so much more than that. In the morning she would wake up to him barking orders at us; telling her to hurry up and come downstairs and me to prepare breakfast, which I would have to serve to him at the head of the table. He always had the biggest meal and he would decide how much should be given to us, which was normally less than a quarter of what I gave him. He would then scream at Rose as she came walked in, saying that she was late, he would call her names and make her kneel on the floor as she ate.' I heard her voice tremble as her throat began to choke up.

'Please don't say anymore.' I whispered.

'She would then walk to school and he would go to work, things were fine then until he came home in the evening. He would complain that something had gone wrong, he would call Rose and throw her to the ground. I remember hearing her whimper and cry as his fists turned her skin black and blue. Then his face would twist into a sick grin as she begged to be let go. He just wouldn't stop though, not until she bled.' By now she had broken down into sobs and every muscle in my body was telling me to run, especially when I saw my siblings staring at me; sadness, confusion and sympathy in their eyes.

I couldn't take it, I bolted. Straight upstairs to my room, where I locked the door and got on my bed, burying my face in my pillow.

Why did she have to tell him? Why couldn't it have stayed secret? Treated it as if none of that had ever happened. I know they say "telling people helps" well it doesn't! It only makes the pain worse! I just want it gone! I don't need help or pity or sympathy! I don't need anything from anyone!

I then heard footsteps on the other side of the door, I didn't need to hear any voices to know it was Gavin and Julia. However, I could almost feel waves of worry and anxiety rolling off them.

'Rose?' Gavin asked. I didn't reply.

'Come on Rose, let us in.' Julia encouraged.

'Please Rosy?'

'Rose Ebony Snape! Let us in!'

'No!' I shouted back. 'Just leave me alone!'

'Rose please, we only want to talk!' Julia tried again.

Knowing that I wasn't going to get any peace I flicked my wand and the door opened and my siblings rushed in.

'Oh Rose we're so sorry, we never-'. I held up my hand to silence my brother.

'I know you didn't know, you weren't supposed to. Now I would appreciate it if the both of you would leave me alone, ok? I don't wanna talk about it.' With that I turned on my heel and kept my back to the two of them.

'But-'

'Get out!' I screamed.

The other two ran, however my rage didn't die down and I soon felt my hands heat up and I clenched them in fists. My eyes widened as I looked at them and saw bright red flames surrounding them, licking up my wrists and covering my hands and fingers. My attention was then turned away as Mrs Partridge screamed from the doorway and I saw Father staring in shock.

'Rose!' He came in and I looked at my hands in disbelief as the flames extinguished. 'What happened?'

'I don't know... I got angry then I just caught fire.' All the colour drained out of Fathers face as he gently took my hands and examined them, there was no evidence that my hands had ever been hot much less on fire! 'It's not the first time I've performed accidental magic, but I've never actually caught fire.'

'I'm sure it was nothing, accidents happen, but are you alright?' He asked worried.

'Yes.' I smiled as he embraced me.

After a few seconds he let go and headed downstairs, I looked to Julia and gave her a look that basically said "follow him!" Thankfully she caught my drift and went after him. While Mrs Partridge left and Gavin stayed behind to talk.

'I'm so sorry.'

'It's fine.' I assured him.

'What happened?'

'I really don't know, but I think Father might.'

'That's why you sent Julia to go look.'

'More or less.'

'I see.'

'Now, why don't we go follow her.' I suggested and we headed to try and find them.

Somewhat unsurprisingly he had gone to the library and we met Julia as we peeked in through the door. The three of us watched him pull a book of the shelf, however we were unable to see the title, he opened and began reading the text silently until his eyes widened and he slammed the book closed before putting it back in its place. We turned and ran as quickly and silently as we could back to the lounge room where Mrs Partridge was sitting.

'Rose, what have you been up to?' She asked quirking a brow.

'Nothing.' I replied casually, knowing that if I kept calm and acted as if everything was normal that she wouldn't suspect us of being up to something.

'Ok then.' She shrugged and stood up. 'Now, I would appreciate it if someone would show me around this wonderful house.'

'Alright, come this way.' I led her out into the foyer along with my brother and sister.

After showing her around I headed back to the library on the pretence of finding something to read, of course that was only half the reason; I needed to find that book and see what was in it.

I opened the doors and walked in, taking in the silence of the room as I admired the not only the amount of books, but also just what a pleasant space it is to relax in. It's almost like the Hogwarts library where I could just sit and read for hours, of course the difference is that one is a lot bigger and feels more like home right now because even though my family is here, it still feels strange. Yet here I felt all my concerns slip away and I focused on... Well... Not focusing. I just let my mind go free and think of anything it wants to.

'Where do I start?' I asked myself aloud as I wandered aimlessly around our awe inspiring family library.

I still can't believe I get to live in such an amazing house and have access to things that many muggle kids wouldn't even dream of, however in cases like this the amount of choice I have does make it a little daunting and hard to choose what to do. So the question on my mind was where is that book?

I looked along the books on the shelf and there it was, the black leather spine looked older than most of the books I had already come across. It was fatter than the others and stood a good couple of inches higher. As soon as I touched it I knew it had been neglected and I removed my hands from it for a moment to examine the tips of my fingers which were now covered in dust. I then pulled it from between its neighbours. The leather had a surprisingly smooth feel, for such a hard object.

Unsurprisingly it was quite heavy and I groaned under its weight before dumping it on the table. I watched as a cloud of dust exploded from it and I blew away as much of it as I could, sneezing as it got into my nose. The pages fell open in my hand, they were wrinkled and stained, not to mention there was just a hint of foxing towards the edges of the pages, and a faint scented musty smell touched my nostrils. The writing was delicate and curly, kinda pretty actually, but it was a little difficult to read. Still I managed and soon discovered this had more than I bargained for in it.

 _While many talk about the power of three, this book will inform you reader that there is nothing more powerful or magical than the four. Four as a number is indeed magical, some do not believe me when I say that, but it is true. I would swear it in front of the Ministry of Magic, if only I didn't believe that the darkness would find those who the prophesy describes._

'How did you find that?'

I jumped violently and looked to the door. Father walked in, his dark eyes shone with worry and... Fear? Why would he be afraid of an old book?

'I just found it on the shelf, why?' I asked confused.

'How much of it have you read?' He asked and picked it up, returning it to the shelf.

'Not much, but why?'

'No reason, now go play with your sister.' He swept me out and closed the door behind me.

'What was that all about?' I wondered, but instead of doing what he had asked to do me I went up to my room. I smiled upon entering and seeing my fluffy calico cat on my bed, she looked up at me and meowed so I walked over and gave her a pat, causing her to purr like a jet engine. 'Hey Mabel.' I murmured.

'Meow.'

'At least you've settled in well.'

'Meow.' She gave me a questioning look.

'Something's going on, but I don't know what and I just get the feeling that everyone else is in on it except me.' I sighed.

'Hey.' I jumped and whipped round to see Julia standing in the door.

'Hi.'

'You ok?'

'Yeah, how long have you been standing there?'

'About a second... Well actually I said "hey" a few milliseconds before I was even standing here.

'I see.' I nodded.

'So... Can I come in?' She asked hesitantly.

'Sure.'

'I heard you were snooping around in the library, what happened?'

'I'm surprised Father didn't tell you that, considering everyone else seems to know everything.' I replied bitterly.

'What do you mean?' She asked.

'There's something going, by no one is telling me what it is.'

'I don't I know what you're talking about.'

'Oh come on!' I groaned. 'I'm thirteen! You can tell me the truth!'

'I-'

'She's right.' Gavin walked in and sat on the bed next to us. 'Dad's just worried about her, but she needs to know the truth.'

'But Dad said-'

'He would tell her when the time came, but you know him and how long it took for him to tell us. She needs to know before she goes back to school.'

Maybe you're right.' She sighed.

'Just tell me what's going on!' I demanded. 'First I start having strange dreams then-'

'Dreams?' My sibling looked at me surprised.

'Yeah, I kept hearing voices and bits of conversations, that's why I woke up last night.'

'What did you hear?'

I told them all abut my dreams, they were surprised and to say Julia was unnerved would be an accurate statement, but what she told me next was shocking.

'That second conversation... That was Dad and I.'

'What?'

'We were talking about you while we were in the kitchen last night.'

'Then how-?'

'I don't know.' She sighed. 'All I do know is that Dad knows and that book you found in the library has something to do with it.'

'What did it say?' Gavin asked intrigued.

'It talked about the power of four and it mentioned a prophesy.'

'What was it?'

'I don't know, I never got to read it.'

'Hmm... I think we need to find that book again.' Julia suggested.

'I agree.' I nodded. 'But how do we get it?'

'Sneak down at night.' Gavin stated.

'No. He's not called a bat for nothing, he roams around at night, I've heard him walking in the corridors.'

'He has been known to do that.' Julia nodded.

'So we either have to find another way or just come out and ask him about it.' I said.

'The latter is not an option.' Gavin shook his head.

'Wait!' An idea popped into my head.

'What?' My siblings looked at me confused.

'There's more to this house, isn't there? I know that because Father is a potions master and all the time I've been here I haven't once seen him working on one, which means there's got to be somewhere that he goes to brew potions because there is no way he would waste the holidays doing nothing.'

'That's true, he has his laboratory in a cellar under the house.' Julia remembered.

'How often does he go down there?'

'That's like asking how often does he disappear for hours without us knowing where he's gone.' Gavin smirked.

'Ok, maybe we can get to the book while he's down there. Are either of you two into potions?' They glanced at each other then looked back at me, as if I was crazy.

'We might be Snapes, but we're not exactly the same as him.' Gavin clarified.

'Still, I'm ok at Herbology and that's connected to potions so I guess I could distract him with that.' Julia mused.

'Ok, but I'm not asking you to distract him, I'm just asking you to keep him company and watch that he doesn't head our way. Keep it simple, say-'

'I wanna watch him and ask him about how he teaches at Hogwarts.' She finished.

'Exactly.'

'We can't try and do this now though, we need to wait a while so that it doesn't look suspicious.' Gavin reminded us.

'Agreed.' I nodded.

'Let's give it a week, ok?' Julia suggested.

'Ok.'


	9. Chapter 9

'So, how's your new life?' Mrs Partridge asked as I helped her move her things into the guest room.

'It's been good, different, but good.'

'I'm happy to hear that, you deserve a nice family.'

'It's even better now that you're here.' We briefly shared a smile.

'Thank you.'

'You're welcome...um... Not be rude or off putting, but what do I call you now?'

'Call me Emma.'

'I don't know if I can do that... It just feels wrong after knowing you as my Mum for so long...'

'I understand, how do you think I feel? Knowing that you've found your family and aren't my daughter anymore.' I sighed, I should have known this would happen if we ever got in touch again. 'I know you already have a mother, but... What about an aunt?' She suggested hopeful. I nodded.

'I need an aunt.'

'Great, so Aunty Emma?'

'Sure.' I smiled.

'Now tell me, have you made anymore friends at your school?'

'Yeah.' I nodded. 'I'm still friends with Harry, Ron and Hermione, but I am now also friends with a boy, his name's Draco.'

'Ah, what's he like?'

'He's nice and funny, he understands me better than most and I think he could probably say the same of me. The two of us are close, but he's been known to bully people and he doesn't really like my other friends that much.' I explained.

'I see... This wouldn't be the young Draco Malfoy, would it?'

'How'd you know?'

'My dear girl, just because I've been in the muggle world for a while doesn't mean I've forgotten how Wizarding society works. That boys sounds like such a Malfoy.'

'Really?'

'Yes, I knew Lucius there for a while... What a man he turned out to be, risking the safety of his family and helping to bring down the evil forces by joining them. Extraordinary, not unlike your Father.'

'But Father isn't with the dark side anymore, is he?'

'Not at the moment, no.' He said as he walked in. 'Sorry to interrupt, but the house elves have prepared lunch.'

'Yay!' I smiled and we headed downstairs to the kitchen. I smiled when I saw Mimi putting food on the table, then realising that Mrs Partridge had never seen a house elf before I introduced them. 'Aunty Emma, this is one of our house elves; Mimi.'

'Hello, Mimi.' She smiled.

'Ooh, Mistress Rose bring new person! Mimi very happy to meet you Mistress Emma.' It was then that my siblings showed up.

'What do you mean she's one of OUR house elves? She's practically yours, you two might as well bond your that close.' Gavin joked.

'Ha ha.' I rolled my eyes.

'Mimi, thank the other house elves for lunch and you may join them to eat yours.' Father smiled as we all sat down.

'Thank you Master Snape.' She nodded and disappeared with a "pop."

'You take good care of your house elves Severus.'

'We try, don't we kids?'

'That's right.' We nodded.

'I'm glad to hear it, far too many pure blood families abuse their house elves.'

'That is very true.' Father nodded.

'It's horrible some of the things people do to them.' I mused. 'But Hermione and I want to change that; she feels very strongly about it.'

'I didn't know that.' Father stated surprised. I nodded.

'Yeah Hermione was appalled after hearing what happened with Mr Malfoy and Dobby, I just wish I could tell her it was all an act...' I sighed sadly.

'I know you do, but I'm afraid it's essential that you don't tell anyone at school.'

'Yes Father.' I nodded.

Realising that this was a sensitive subject Aunty Emma spoke up in order to veer us on to another topic.

Tell me, what's been going on the Wizarding World the last few years?' She asked.

'Not much actually, well unless you count Rose's adventures at Hogwarts.' Julia replied flashing a grin at me.

'Oh? What have you been up to, Rose?' She asked.

'It's kind of a long story.'

'I've got time.'

So after a rather long conversation explaining my experiences at the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry over the last two years I decided to go up to my room and write to my friends about what's happened. I sat down at my mahogany desk and after pulling out several pieces of parchment and envelopes, I started writing.

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _A lot of things have happened since I wrote to you last; Mrs Partridge, or rather "Aunty Emma" now, has come over! It's so great to see her again and she told me that she's divorcing Mr Partridge! I'm so glad, she's a lot better off without him. I know what you're thinking by now: how did a muggle find a Wizarding family? Well the answer is, she's a squib. I was shocked when I found, I never would have guessed that, but it does explain a few things like how she met my parents when she adopted me and why she wasn't that shocked to find out that I was a witch._

At this point I was tempted to mention Draco's visit, but I know I'm not allowed to tell anyone because I might expose them. Why do things have to be so complicated? Still I had something else to tell her which might make up for the fact that I couldn't talk about the Malfoy's.

 _Also I performed accidental magic again, but this time was_ _ **very**_ _different. I didn't disrupt things around me, no. This time my hands caught fire! Scary, I know! I have no idea how it happened, it just... Did! I was soon back to normal though as I "cooled off." Heh... In more ways than one. Father panicked, but Julia followed him as he raced to the library and when we got there we saw him pull out some old book. Unfortunately we couldn't see the title or anything and he caught me when I found it, so I didn't get to read much, but it was talking about the power of four. Any ideas?_

 _Tell me if you think of anything, I'll write back soon,_

 _Rose._

With that I went into Julia's room and gave it too Cleo who, after I tied the letter to her leg, flew off out the window and to Hermione's house. Maybe she can find out something for us, I really hope so because it's not going to be easy to get that book again.

I was about to head downstairs when a certain snowy owl swooped in through my open window with a letter tied to its leg. Realising who's owl it was I quickly undid the letter and gave the bird a small put on the head, smiling and the feeling of its soft warm feathers on my hand.

'Hello Hedwig, how did you get here?' I asked before opening the envelope and setting to read the note.

The first thing I noticed was that the scrawl on it was definitely worse than Harry's usual handwriting, sloping and sliding all over the parchment, making it harder to read as some of the words were misspelt and ran into each other. Yet I managed to make out what it was saying.

 _Dear Rose,_

 _I'm sorry I never got to reply to your last letter, but now that Vernon, Petunia and Dudley are all gone I was able to scribble down this note and have Hedwig send it too you. I know Hedwig is a smart girl and she'll be sure to give this to you and get back before the others do. After all who knows what they'll do if they find out she's gone..._

 _Well that explained the rushed writing._

 _By the way, I did like you said to in the first letter you sent me, about telling Dudley that you're a witch, and quite frankly he doesn't believe me. He doesn't think that "Stephanie" would be a freak like me. So now he just waves that in front of my face and tells everyone that I lied to him, what should I do?_

 _Anyway, I hope you are well and that everything is ok with your family, how has Snape been treating you? O-oh, time's going and I need to send this, so I guess that's all. Write me a reply when you can, but send it at night so the others don't see Cleo when she comes._

 _Talk soon,_

 _Harry_

I sighed, what my friend suggested made sense, after all if his Aunt and Uncle found out that we had sent letters to each other they would never let him go back to Hogwarts, but it makes me sad that he is in such a position.

'Thank you, Hedwig, for delivering the letter. Now you'd best return to Harry, I'll send him a letter tomorrow night using Cleo.' I nodded giving the beautiful owl one last pat before sending her on her way again.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter.**

The next day I kept my promise of writing a letter addressed to Harry.

 _Dear Harry,_

 _I'm so glad to hear from you again, you can't believe how happy I was when Hedwig came and landed in my window! Mind you it did come as a bit of a shock at first, but I couldn't wait to write back!_

 _So much has been happening lately that it's made it hard for me to keep up with everyone and while you Mione and Ron are always on my mind, I haven't had much time to write letters. Not to mention it's rather difficult when I don't want you to get in trouble if you get caught when Cleo delivers them... But at least now we have a system to avoid that so we can write! Yay!_

 _Hey, you'll never believe this, but guess what?! Mrs Partridge has come over! I found out that she was actually born in a magic family, but she unfortunately she doesn't have any magic herself so she has to live in the muggle world. Still bombshell right?! So she is now staying here in the mansion with us and now we've decided that I will call her "Aunty Emma" so if I mention her you know who I'm talking about._

 _Then just when you think life can't get any weirder, it does. I performed more "accidental magic" the other day, this time however my hands actually caught fire! Yes, I got angry and my hands literally burst into flames! Everyone freaked out and now Father says that it was just an accident and he doubts it's that significant, but I think he's knows more than he's telling me..._

 _All the same I was afraid Dudley might do that. Don't worry though, I'll handle him. I'll send him a letter tomorrow and explain a few things, I'm sure that will keep him in line, at least for the moment. Just remember, you never knew I was going to send it, ok? I don't want your aunt and uncle thinking it was you who sent it._

 _I would love to tell you more about what's been happening here, but this letter is becoming too long as it is, so I will have to finish it here. I hope to write you another letter in a few days time, or maybe we could do this once a week. Either way, I miss you, bye!_

 _Write back soon,_

 _Rose._

Once I was finished it I decided to check it for any grammatical errors (just to keep in practice for writing essays when school starts again) then I put it into an envelope and placed it in my top drawer. I can't wait to send it to Harry tonight, not to mention I'll have to keep my new promise and send a letter to Dudley. Ugh! Ah well, if it can save Harry from a bit of trouble then it's worth it.

With that thought in mind a took another piece of parchment and set to work.

 _Dudley,_

 _I'm not sure if you remember me, after all it's been quite some time since we last spoke and I wasn't very kind to you at that time, I would like to apologise for that. It was wrong of me to be so rude. I hope you can forgive me._

 _Now, I've heard that your cousin, Harry, has told you that I am a witch and I am proud to say it's true. I am indeed a witch. That is the reason I left, I now attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with Harry. It's really different and I love it, but... I still miss and everyone at my old school, you included._

 _Look Dudley, I know we've never really talked much, but I'm willing to write to you so long as you promise to be kind to the kids at school and I want you to promise not to bully Harry and trust me, my magic let's me know what you're doing all the time, so I'll know if you haven't been keeping your promise. Hope to hear back from you._

 _Stephanie._

I then did the same as I had with Harry's letter, sealing the envelope and adding an address before putting it in the draw and going to look for my mischievous cat.

I searched the house thoroughly, looking in every room and checking every nook and cranny she could fit in, but I couldn't find her. However as I came to the end of a shadowy hallway I found an old door, unlike most of the other doors in the house it was midnight black, with a slightly rusted silver handle. I was tempted to see where it led, but fear held me back.

'Meow.'

'Huh?' I said aloud upon hearing a soft mew.

'Meow.'

There it was again. I then smiled to myself and slowly walked toward the door, if my suspicions were right then- I opened the door only to have my calico cat walk out and begin rubbing herself on my legs, purring happily.

'Mabel.' I shook my head grinning and I knelt down to give her a hug. 'How long were you in there? You silly kitty.'

'Hello Rose.' I heard a deep and caring, yet slightly droning, voice behind me.

'Father.' I turned and smiled at him over my shoulder before picking Mabel up and standing to face him.

'What are you doing here?'

'Well I went looking for Mabel, but I couldn't find her so eventually I ended up hear and I heard her meowing from inside the room so I opened the door and she came out.' I replied.

'I see.' He nodded.

'What's in there?' I asked.

'It's where I work on my potions when I'm here and not at Hogwats.'

'I knew there had to be a dungeon here.' I grinned to myself.

'Dungeon?' He asked raising an eyebrow.

'Yes.' I nodded. 'Well it's dark, quiet, away from the rest of the house, so I'd say it constitutes as a dungeon.' He chuckled.

'I guess you're right... Would you like to come in?'

'Sure.'

I then walked towards the door once again, this time pushing it all the way open and stepping inside, my first thoughts were that it would be a dark space, damp, with old stone walls and lab equipment scattered everywhere. However once Father stepped in behind me and flicked the light on I realised that I had been a little too stereotypical.

Instead it was brightly lit, with a gleaming stainless steel table running nearly the length of the room. The walls were indeed stone, much like the rest of the house, but white cabinets line them, punctuated by floor-to-ceiling glass cases that held a combination of equipment including everything from cauldrons and spoons to mandrake leaves and lizard legs. The table had two sinks and two plugs that sat beside them. Nothing else rested on its surface; the space was immaculate, it was obvious that there was a place for everything, and everything was in its place.

'Do you like it?'

'Are you kidding? It's amazing! Nothing like I was expecting at all!' I replied looking around in awe.

'Come, let me show you what I've been working on. Watch the steps.'

I looked down to see roughly four of five steps and carefully walked down them to the floor of the "dungeon" before letting my curiosity go wild!

My eyes scoured over every tiny detail in the room, taking note of every ingredient until I found a cauldron that had a strange blue liquid in it and it was bubbling contently over a small fire.

'What's this Father?'

'Something I made for you.'

'For me?' I asked surprised.

'Yes, it's a potion for dreamless sleep.'

'What? Why would I need that?' I asked, confusion written plainly on my face.

'I thought it might help, as you told me that you were having trouble with those strange dreams, taking this will mean that you won't have to experience those anymore.' He explained and we watched as the concoction gradually started to turn purple.

'Thank you for thinking of me Father, but as you said they would the dreams have mostly passed.' I lied.

'I see... Oh well, it won't hurt to keep some just in case they return.'

'I agree. Wait! Is that...' I rushed over to one of the glass cabinets where a large red bottle was sitting. 'Dragon blood?' I asked staring at it.

'Yes.' He nodded. 'I was able to get some for myself.'

'But isn't it rather expensive?'

'Indeed it is, such rare ingredients always are, however I needed it for one of my potions some time ago and I just happened to have enough money.'

'I must say I am impressed Father, why didn't you tell me about all this before? I love it here!'

'Thank you, I'm glad you like it, I wish I had mentioned it earlier.'

'You're welcome... Um Father... Would you be able to explain to me about the Calming Draught, would you?'

'Rose, you aren't supposed to be learning about that until fifth year!' He replied shocked.

'I know, but I found some books in the school library last year and I just couldn't stop reading about it... Please?'

'Well of course I'll help you, my clever little girl.' He smiled and we sat down and started talking about the potion.

Several hours later we were still talking about different potions and it was only when Mimi came and told us that dinner was ready that we realised what time it was. So we went to dinner with the others and continued the night as usual, however before I went to bed I snuck into July's room and gave my letter for Harry to Cleo who took off with it into the night, headed for the Dursley household - wherever that is.

With that thought in mind I went to bed, happy with how my day had gone and looking forward to another great day tomorrow.


	11. Chapter 11

The next day I woke up and went over to my window, where I yawned and stretched while looking out into the backyard. However as I looked down at my desk a saw the letter I had written to Dudley and remember that I should send it. So I went into Julia's room and gave letter to Cleo, making sure to give her a pat before sending her on her way.

I didn't hear anything back for several hours and I was beginning to think dear old Dudley wasn't going to go for it, however around lunch time Hedwig came to the manner!

'Who's owl is that?' Julia asked watching as the owl approached.

'I know that owl...!' I realised as the snow-white owl flew straight up to my room where I ran to meet it on my windowsill. 'Hi Hedwig!' I smiled patting her head as she gave me a friendly hoot in greeting. I then turned my attention to the letter tied to her leg, taking it and opening it, anxious to see what was inside.

 _Dear Stephanie,_

As soon as I read that I knew that Dudley had written this, not only because he addressed it to "Stephanie" but also because the hand writing was simply atrocious! Almost exactly what I remember his work looked like in class, but there was some evidence that he tried to clean it up a little.

 _I accept your apology and I am so happy to hear from you again! But, why didn't you ever tell me that you were a freak like my cooky cousin? He tried to tell me a while ago that you were like him, but I didn't believe it and I still don't know if I should, after all you don't seem strange like him. Still, I want you to prove that you are a witch._

I rolled my eyes, how typical of him.

 _How you prove it is up to you, just give me some kind of evidence and I might believe it. Until then my parents don't want me to write to you so the faster you come up with proof the sooner we will be able to write to each other again. Can't wait to hear back from you,_

 _You're favourite guy,_

 _Dudley Dursley_

Argh! What a crackpot! How am I supposed to give him proof of my magic? It's jot like I can just send him my wand or something! Jeez, I bet it was his father who told him to demand evidence because there is no way he would think to ask for that himself. I rolled my eyes as I folded his letter back up and set to writing my reply.

 _To Dudley,_

 _It would seem that we have a problem as students are not allowed to use magic while away from Hogwarts and showing you would breach the "Reasonable Restriction for Underage Sorcery" and I would be expelled from school. So I'm afraid you'll just have to take my word for it and if you can't accept that then I guess we just won't talk anymore. Say hello to the rest of your family for me (including Harry) and I hope you have a good time at school._

 _Stephanie_

With that I put it in an envelope and gave it to Hedwig and after another pat she took off to deliver my letter. I am interested to see whether or not Dudley and his parents believe me.

Knock knock. I looked to the door.

'Come in.' On cue Aunty Emma walked in and smiled at me. 'Hi.'

'Hello, Rose, what's up?'

'Not much.' I replied.

'Oh, well that's not very fun.'

'No, not really.'

'Well you know... I'm still yet to see you fly on a broomstick...'

'Come on, I'll show you what I can do.' I was about to get up when Cleo came in and landed on my desk.

'Goodness me, what is Julia's owl doing in here?'

'I think...' I untied a letter from the birds leg and looked at the envelope. 'It's for me.' I then opened it and began to read.

 _Dear Rose,_

 _I am glad to hear that your "aunt" is with you and not with Mr Partridge, it must be great having all of your family together now and I would never have guessed that Mrs Partridge was a squib! I mean wow! That does explain a few things though, like how knew your parents and how she wasn't incredibly surprised by going to Diagon Alley, not to mention that she went back by herself to get Mabel for you. :)_

 _By the way, your news about your "accidental magic" did indeed shock me! However I did some digging and found a book on accidental magic, here's some of what it said._

 _Accidental magic._

 _Magical children are prone to using magic accidentally when feeling angry, scared, or confused, as a form of self-defence. They typically have no control over this magic, however it is honed and controlled as they progress in maturity._

 _I'm afraid it's not much and we pretty much already know all of that, but finding examples of accidental magic was practically impossible, however I know that Harry has experienced it and I'm sure he could tell you a little about his experiences. Although from the little I was able to find, it seems as if most accidental magic is defensive, such as producing a defensive charge._

 _Which is why your two "accidents" are so interesting, both times have involved fire and that is like nothing I've ever heard about! Still I am sorry that I can't offer you anymore in formation and if there's anything else you want me to look for just tell me and I will find it._

 _Until your next letter,_

 _Hermione_

I sighed, this had made almost no difference to my situation. I knew nothing more than what I already did before and that frustrated me. I already know that my "accidents" aren't like ordinary witches and wizards, what I want to know is why is it happening! Why me? Why now?

'Everything ok?' Aunty Emma asked getting my attention.

'Oh, yeah.' I replied, attempting to keep the disappointment out of my voice.

'Are you sure? Is there anything you want to talk about?'

'No, no. I'm all good.'

She dropped it and we went to see what the others were doing, but I still longed for answers and I craved the opportunity to get them.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

-/-/-

Finally! After a week of doing nothing we are now about to put our plan into action, Julia has just gone to talk to Father down in his "dungeon" of sorts and Gavin and I are waiting roughly ten minutes until we go to the library to find the book. I can't even begin to describe how anxious I am to get some answers, which is why I am pacing impatiently back and forth in my room.

'Calm down, Rose. It's not like we're going to get caught, Julia has our backs, remember?' My older brother tried to calm me down.

'I know that, Gavin, but I just want to hurry up and get that book! I want to know what all this is about.'

'I don't blame you, if I had caught fire and not burned I would want to know why too.'

'It's not just that, I want to know why Father was looking at it, I mean who knows, maybe it has something to do with my weird dreams as well.'

'That's a good point.' We both glanced at the clock on the wall. 'I think that's enough time, come on.' Gavin said and with that we headed off.

When we got to the library I was quick to begin searching, my eyes scoured the shelves looking for that book I had seen Father reading. We searched for what felt like ages, though it could have been mere minutes the way my aspect of time was going, and we were starting to think that we wouldn't find the book, however my gaze soon landed on a familiar object.

The book I had read which mentioned the prophesy! I picked it up and started flipping through it, that was when I noticed a slight indent in one of the pages, an indent that hadn't been there the last time I had looked at it. That meant only one thing. This was the book Father had been reading from!

'This is it! It all fits! The reason Father was so upset about me finding and reading part of this book before and why he came to read it after my burst of magic! This has to be the key to all of this!'

It was then then that I noticed the title of the book,

 _Abnormal Family Ties_

Why would Father be interested in such a book? Curious, I opened the book and set to read it with Gavin, however once I read the prophesy again I became even more concerned.

 _While many talk about the power of three, this book will inform you reader that there is nothing more powerful or magical than the four. Four as a number is indeed magical, some do not believe me when I say that, but it is true. I would swear it in front of the Ministry of Magic, if only I didn't believe that the darkness would find those who the prophesy describes._

 _Four children born to the one who thrice defied the darkness and the operative of grey, one of earth, one of water, one of fire and the last of air. Together they shall forge the light and bind an army. Born as the seven the month dies a girl will have powers unseen for thousands of years. The dark lord will mark her as his friend, but she will have plans the dark lord knows not. Born as the seventh month dies._

Gavin and I looked at each other.

'What would Father want with this?' Gavin wondered.

'I... Don't know.' I shook my head. Then we both froze as large heavy footprints came down the hall.

'Well maybe we'll get a chance to ask him!' Gavin said and we both panicked! 'What should we do?! He'll kill us if he finds us with this!' He pointed to the book.

'Then come on!' I snatched it up and immediately put it back on the shelf I had found it on before hearing the mahogany doors open and father walked in.

'Hello you two, what are up to?' He asked.

'Oh nothing.' I lied, trying to act casual.

'Hey Dad, where's Julia?' Gavin asked.

'She was with me in my laboratory for a while, but she just went to look for you guys.'

'Oh, ok. Then we should probably go and look for her, right Rose?' My brother looked at me and I nodded.

'Yeah, let's go.'

Then with that the two of us walked out past our Father and went up to my room where Julia was waiting.

'Well? Did you find out anything?' She asked as soon as we came in and shut the door behind us.

'Yes and no.' I replied.

'What do you mean?'

I recited what we had just read.

'The power of four? The elements and a girl born as the seventh month dies? What would Dad want with a book about that?'

'I have no idea.' Gavin shook his head.

'At least now I know what the name of the book is so we can get more information on it.' I said.

'What is it?'

'Abnormal Family Ties.'

'Weird.'

'Still, we only have another week until the end of the holidays so what are we going to do when we all get back to school?' Gavin asked.

'Well... I'll just use the Hogwarts library to search for the book or any other clues.' I replied.

'Good idea.' He nodded.

'I've heard Hogwarts' library is very extensive! Far more so than Beauxbaton's.' My sister smiled.

'I wouldn't know, since I've never seen Beauxbaton.'

'True.' She replied offering a small smirk.

'But you know... This has been my best ever holiday... Ever! I have had so much fun with you guys! And the idea that we only have one week of it left... I... I kinda wish I didn't have to go back to Hogwarts...' I sighed.

 _Wow... I never thought I'd say that!_

'Well that just means that we need to make the most of the time we have left!' Julia smiled.

So we spent the next week trying to have as much fun as we could, swimming, riding brooms, playing exploding snap and even doing a bit of duelling! However it was all to end far too soon.

'I can't believe that we have to go back to school tomorrow.' I sighed, shaking my head sadly.

'Me neither.' Gavin agreed.

'Yeah.' Julia nodded and we all flopped dejectedly on to the lounge in the games room.

'Hey you three, don't you all have things to be doing?' Father came in and asked.

'Done.' We all replied simultaneously.

'Oh really?' Even though I wasn't looking at him, I just knew he was raising his eyebrows at us in disbelief.

'Yep.'

'Have you packed your trunks?'

'Uh huh.'

'All of your clothes you are going to need for school in there?'

'Yes.'

'And-'

'Yes our books are in there as well.' We cut him off. He nodded smirking.

'Good... You know I've never seen you three more in-sink?'

'So?' I asked shrugging.

'Well I just think it's interesting, that's all. Now all of you go and get ready for dinner and it will be early to bed tonight as you have all got school again tomorrow.'

'Yes Sir.' The three of us nodded.

'Alright, now let's get to it.'

So we got up and did as he asked.

Dinner tonight was different, yes there was still discussion and laughing, but it just didn't feel the same. Everyone just seemed kind of... Sad. I know I was, I didn't want to have to leave my newfound family and return to school! I wouldn't get to see them again for months! That thought really dampened my mood and given that the others seemed a little down I am guessing they were having similar thoughts.

When we said goodnight, for what we all knew would be the last time until the Christmas holidays or possibly even longer, I noticed that Julia's eyes were watering ever so slightly! Then once I went to sleep I was angered to find that my last night at home would be filled with strange dreams again!


	13. Chapter 13

Morning. School. Ugh.

I got up and got dressed, making sure to put my pyjamas in my trunk, ready to be taken with the rest of my things to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Sigh. Normally I would be ecstatic, but not so much now that I had been able to spend the Summer holidays with my real family.

We had really grown to like each other and now we wouldn't get to see each other for ages as we all went to three separate schools a million miles away from each other. As such the mood this morning was one of sadness and it took a lot to finally say goodbye to one another.

'Well... I guess this is it.' Gavin said unhappily.

'Yeah.' Julia and I nodded.

'At least we can write to each other.' Julia tried to cheer us up.

'Good point.' Gavin agreed, though I could see it was half hearted.

'Dad will probably let us see each other at Christmas.' I gave them a weak smile.

'Exactly.' The others tried to return the smile.

'But that's ages away.' Julia then broke and tears started leaking from her eyes.

'I'm gonna miss you guys!' I launched myself into my older siblings arms and we held each other for all we were worth!

'We're going to miss you too, Rose!' Gavin cried.

It wasn't long before Father joined in the hug and by the time we all managed the regain our composure it was time to go and right at this point I was seriously considering trying to sneak away with my sister so I could be with her at Beauxbatons! Of course I knew I wouldn't get away with it and Father would be furious so we eventually had to say our farewells.

'Bye Julia.' I gave her one last hug.

'Bye Rose, I promise I'll write to you.'

'Ok, I'll keep an eye out for Cleo.' I nodded then went over to my older brother and he wrapped his arms around me.

'Bye Gav.'

'See you, Rosy. Be careful, ok?'

'You've got it.' I nodded.

My siblings then said goodbye to Father and we all parted parted ways and Father and I swiftly apparated to Kings Cross. Once there we discovered platform 9 3/4 was crowded as always and after navigating the maddening crowd we put my luggage aboard the Hogwarts Express and it came time to get on the train myself.

'I'll see you when you reach the school, alright?' Father said hugging me.

'Ok, see you there.' I replied then we let go and I headed over to the train, pausing briefly to wave. 'Bye Father!'

'Goodbye Rose!' He called back and I got on the Hogwarts Express.

Once on board I went to our usual compartment which was, thankfully, empty. Unlike most of the others which were full to the brim. Or at least I had thought it was empty, but when I opened the doors I saw someone sitting with their face covered over and leaning up against the window. Oh well, I didn't really have much choice. So I went in, closed the door behind me and sat down.

A little while later Harry, Hermione and Ron arrived.

'Guys!' I grinned.

'Hi Rose!' They replied happily. We talked a little then Harry turned serious and he glared at the man, who I now knew to be Professor R. J. Lupin as pointed out on his suitcase by Hermione.

'Do you think he's really asleep?' He asked.

'He seems to be, why?' Hermione asked confused.

'I gotta tell you something.' He replied as we settled down to hear what he had to tell us.

'Let me get this straight. Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban to come after you?' Ron asked as we all stared at Harry.

'Yeah.'

'But they'll catch Black, won't they? I mean everyone's looking for him.' Hermione reasoned.

'Sure - Of course, no one's ever broken out of Azkaban before and he's a raving, murderous lunatic...' Ron murmured.

'Oh thanks Ron.' Harry replied sarcastically.

'Hey if you guys don't mind me asking, who is Sirius Black?' The others gasped and gawked before explaining about how he committed the mass murder and how he worked for "He Who Must Not Be Named." It's needless to say I immediately became worried for Harry's safety and the feeling of fear only spread as the train came to a rather sudden stop.

'Why're we stopping? We can't be there yet.' Hermione asked.

Harry then got up and opened the compartment door, sticking his head out to try and find out what was happening on only for the carriage to sway and him to fall back on to the seat.

'What's going on?' Ron asked scared.

'Dunno, maybe we've broken down or something.' Harry replied. The lights then flickered off, leaving us in the dark!

'Ouch! Ron, that was my foot!' Hermione cried as Ron then moved over and tried to see out the window at the miserable, rainy, weather outside.

'There's something moving out there!' He said and I raised a brow disbelievingly. However we all stared in shock as the window froze over right before our eyes as well as the jug of water that had been sitting on the table beside the window! My breathing quickened as I felt myself becoming frightened and my breath hung in the air as a white mist as the temperature dropped rapidly.

My eyes widened as we saw what looked like long black tendrils of material slowly walk to the door of our compartment and a hand soon appeared! It was glistening, greyish, slimy-looking and scabbed! The hand then moved as if it was grabbing the handle and without even touching it managed to pull the door open!

I shrunk back against Hermione in terror as its "face" appeared from underneath the pitch black hood it wore! The face was covered with scabby, grey skin, much like its hands, had empty eye sockets and there was a gaping large hole where the mouth should be!

For a moment it just hovered there and moved his head as if examining us, I trembled in fear as the thing looked at me threateningly! But it then turned to Harry and I heard its breathing change as if it was trying to suck in something other than the air in the compartment! I then saw Harry tense up and I could have sworn I saw a sort of white mist go from Harry to the creature as if it was pulling something out of him!

I started to feel sad, as if all of the happiness was just being drained from the world! It was awful! I fought to keep at least some of my happiness, but it seemed impossible as the room became even colder and I began to feel as if I wouldn't be happy ever again!

After a few seconds the professor that had been sleeping in the carriage woke up and pointed his wand at the thing so a bright light was aimed at it! Almost immediately the creature retreated back into the corridor and I gasped as Harry passed out! Immediately Hermione and I moved to be closer to him, I slid off the seat and sat on my knees in the gap between the two seats as the lights flickered back on.

'Harry are you alright?' Hermione asked as she kneeled in front of him.

'Come on Harry wake up.' I encouraged and smiled slightly as his eyes opened and Hermione passed him his glasses as he slowly sat up.

'Here, take this.' Professor Lupin offered him something and Harry took it cautiously. 'Don't worry, it's chocolate.' He explained. Harry nodded slightly then glanced nervously around the compartment, his eyes settling on the door as he stared at it, scared.

'What was that?'

'A dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban, it's gone now. It was searching the train for Sirius Black. Excuse me, I want to have a little word with the driver.' He put what looked to be more chocolate on the seat beside Harry and stood up, walking over to the sliding door before slipping out and turning back around to look at Harry. 'Eat. You'll feel better.' He then left, walking away up the corridor.

'So what happened to me?' Harry asked.

'Well, you sorta went rigid. We thought maybe you were having a fit or something.' Ron answered.

'D-Did any of you three... You know... Pass out?' He asked, we shook our heads.

'No, but I felt weird though... As if I would never be cheerful again...!' The other boy replied.

'But someone was screaming, a woman.'

'No one was screaming, Harry.' Hermione shook her head.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

-/-/-

When we got to Hogwarts we went straight into the Great Hall for dinner, as usual it was loud, noisy and crowded. I sat down at the Gryffindor table with Harry, Hermione and Ron and just as the new first years were about to be sorted I looked across at the Slytherin table. Almost immediately my eyes landed on a boy with slightly longer blonde hair. He soon turned around as briefly smiled at me as if he had felt my eyes on him and I couldn't help but smile back.

That was another thing apart from my Gryffindor friends that I had almost forgotten I'd missed during the holidays and despite being able to see the Malfoy's during the holidays I was eager to talk to him again.

After all the houses had their new students the choir got up and sang to us, I tore my eyes away from Draco's to watch as they did their piece and I loved it. Admittedly holding a toad wasn't exactly something I'd be into, but the sining would more than make up for it. I had to ask Professor Flitwick to let me join! The song itself also seemed eerily appropriate for this year given what had happened on the train earlier...

Double, double, toil and trouble.  
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.  
Double, double, toil and trouble.  
Something wicked this way comes!

Eye of newt and toe of frog,  
wool of bat and tongue of dog,  
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,  
lizard's leg and owlet's wing.

Double, double, toil and trouble.  
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.  
Double, double, toil and trouble.  
Something wicked this way comes!

In the cauldron boil and bake,  
fillet of a fenny snake,  
scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,  
witches mummy, maw and gulf.

Double, double, toil and trouble.  
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.  
Double, double, toil and trouble.  
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.  
Double, double, toil and trouble.  
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.  
Something wicked this way comes!

Once the song was finished the choir dispersed and they returned to their seats just in time for Dumbledore to stand up and go over to the stand where he usually spoke.

'Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast... First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Good luck, professor!' He indicated to the new teacher as he stood up from his place at the teachers table. We all proceeded to applaud him.

'Of course! That's why he knew to give you the chocolate, Harry.' Hermione reasoned.

'Potter!' A sharp voice got our attention and Harry and Ron turned around to see Draco and one of his goons looking at them. 'Is it true you fainted? I mean you actually fainted?!' The boy beside him put the back of his hand and melodramatically pretended to faint.

'Shove off Malfoy!' Ron growled putting his hand on Harry's back and turning him to face away from the Slytherin bullies.

'How did he find out?' Harry asked quietly.

'Just forget it.' Hermione replied, while I stared at Draco and the creep a minute longer, giving me just enough time to shoot them a death glare!

I knew that he was meant to be unkind to the Gryffindor's, especially Harry, as part of his cover as a Slytherin student, but hearing him mock and ridicule Harry made me sick, whether he had to do it or not I still hated it. However I had to return my attention to the front as the Headmaster began speaking again.

'As to our second new appointment, well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be taken by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties.' He said and I saw McGonagal nudge Hagrid telling him to stand and we all cheered for him until he sat down again.

'Whoo hoo!' Hermione and I called clapping loudly along with everyone else.

'Finally, on a more disquieting note... At the request of the Ministry of Magic... Hogwarts will, until further notice,play host to the dementors of Azkaban...' Immediately everyone began whispering and murmuring amongst themselves.

'This is bad.' I said quietly and the others nodded.

'Until such a time as Sirius Black is captured. The dementors will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds. Now whilst I've been assured that their presence will not disrupt our day-to-day activities... A word of caution. Dementors are vicious creatures. They'll not distinguish between the one they hunt and the one who gets in their way. Therefore, I must warn each and every one of you, give them no reason to harm you. It is not in the nature of a dementor to be forgiving... But you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times...' He moved his hand over one of the candles on the stand and it's flame went out. If one only remembers to turn on the light!' He reversed his previous action relighting the candle! 'Well, I think that is everything of importance. Let the feast begin!'

Instantly huge plates of food appeared in front of us and we all dug into the delicious meal that had been prepared for us. In between eating we continued to talk and tell each other of what we did in our holidays as we had never gotten to do that on the train and as we talked I found myself turning to look at the teachers table and locking eyes with none other than my father. He gave me a small smile though I saw something shimmering in his obsidian eyes and I knew that as soon as the feast finished I had to go and talk to him.


	15. Chapter 15

I was stuffed by the time we had finished, not unlike most of the students as we walked out of the Great Hall and started returning to our dormitories. Or at least that was what everyone else was doing. I went down to the dungeons, where I knew Father would return to so I could talk to him in private.

Just as I remembered the dungeon was dark so I was forced to use lumos and light my wand so I could see, but sadly there was little I could do about the cold and I just had to ignore it. Luckily I had been right and after waiting around for five minutes he walked into the dungeons.

'Good evening Father.' I smiled.

'Rose.' He hugged me. 'I was so worried about you.'

'Why?' I asked confused as he let me go.

'I heard about the dementor on the train.' He replied.

'Oh.' My eyes dropped briefly and I fought to keep the images of that horrible thing from my mind.

'It didn't hurt you, did it?' He asked inspecting me. I shook my head.

'No, but it did something to Harry.'

'I see... Come on, follow me.' He lead me to his private chambers and invited me in.

I smiled. It was warm and roomy, yet still very different to home, for his quarters here were small. I observed that there were only three rooms, the main room complete with a couch, table and small kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom. It also had a nice fireplace which sadly wasn't lit. The colour scheme was pretty much the same as home with green, silver and black and while the place would have seemed very somber and boring I found it comforting.

'Why is it that you keep waiting to show me such nice things of yours?' I asked admiring the place. He chuckled.

'I suppose it's just because no one has ever really been in here except for me.'

'Right.' We then went and sat on the black leather lounge and I smiled as Father light the fireplace with a flick of his wand. So now we had enough light and it provided warmth as we sat together.

'So tell me what happened on the train.'

'Well...' I went on to describing the attack on the Hogwarts Express making sure that it was as detailed as possible, as Father had requested, and by the time I was done I could tell that he was still worried.

'Hmm...' He murmured. I looked at him concerned.

'What's wrong?'

'Oh nothing...' He replied shaking his head slightly then looking back down at me. 'I'm just glad to have you safe with me again.' He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer so I snuggled into him and he kissed my forehead. I knew he was hiding something, but I didn't want to pressure him about it now.

'You don't have to worry about me, you know.' I said quietly pulling my feet up on to the lounge so I could lie down with my head in his lap. He then conjured a nice soft, warm blanket for me and I carefully tucked it in around myself.

'Of course I have to worry about you, you're my daughter... And my youngest one at that .'

'So? I can still take care of myself.'

'I know you can... But that doesn't mean I don't want to look after you sometimes.' He started gently to stroke my hair. I smiled to myself, loving the feeling of being taken care of and how he showed me his gently compassion that so few had seen. I am so lucky to have a father like him. and I soon found my eyelids becoming heavier and heavier until I couldn't hold them open and I slipped into a deep peaceful sleep.

It didn't seem to last long though as a gentle tapping roused me. I heard Father sigh, almost unhappily, as I stirred with my head still on his lap. Though his eyes shone with a strange sort of contentment as I looked up at him.

'Mmmm... Sorry Father I hadn't meant to fall asleep here.' I appologised yawning.

'It's alright, I don't mind.' He replied. I was about to reply when the tapping sound presented itself again. 'Ugh. Who could it be at this hour?' He grumbled and I sat up so he could get up and answer it. I didn't bother to look... Or at least not until I heard Father growl. 'What are you doing here?' I then decided to have a quick glance back at the door.

'I'm sorry to disturb you, Professor, but I didn't get to see Ro-'

'Draco!' I beamed happily and he turned and grinned at me.

'Oh very well, you may come in.' Father moved aside and allowed Draco to run in and sit beside me on the lounge.

'I missed you!' I cried as I threw my arms around him.

'I missed you too!' He smiled before cheekily eyeing off the blanket and pulling some of it over him. 'So how were the rest of your holidays?'

'Awesome! In fact I loved them so much I didn't want them to end!'

'That's great!'

'You know the two of you should really be in bed and not here in my quarters have a midnight chat.' Father raised a brow.

'Sorry Uncle Severus, but I didn't get to see her earlier and I had a feeling she'd be here so I thought I might just... Heh...' He tried for a weak smile.

'It's alright, Draco, you don't need to explain. Though I should hope the two of you won't make a habit of this.'

'We won't, Father.' I promised before turning back to Draco. 'I really don't know why am talking to you though after the way you were mean to Harry.'

'Aw come on Rose! We've been through this! I don't know how many times I can-'

'I was only teasing.' I cut him off before he really started ranting.

'Oh sure you were.' He smirked.

Anyway the two of us continued to talk for a while until Father said that we both needed to go to bed and while he said he could conjure me a room here in his quarters I wanted to go back and sleep in Gryffindor Tower. So Draco and I walked together until we got to the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room.

'Are you sure you don't want me to come with you to the Tower? I can always walk back down here by myself.' The blonde boy tried to persuade me, but I shook my head.

'No thanks, that would only mean you doing more unnecessary walking, besides I'm a big girl and I'm not really afraid of the dark.'

'Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow I guess.' He nodded.

'Yes, bye Draco.'

'Bye Rose.' He replied then whispered the password to the Snake and walked into their Common Room, the door shutting firmly behind him.

I then quietly walked up the stairs and to the Tower, making sure to watch out for any teachers that were on patrol as it was WAY after curfew and I didn't feel like loosing points for my house in the very first night of term. Luckily I made it without being spotted and was quick to give the Fat Lady the password then went inside and straight up to bed, thankful that the bed left for me was the one right next to one of the windows, my favourite.

Upon seeing my kitten curled up on the foot of my bed with her food bowl on the floor I remember that I hadn't fed her, however on closer inspection on the food bowl I noticed little crumbs from the cat food. I glanced over to Hermione's bed, she must have fed her.

'Thank you. Mione.' I whispered.

'You're welcome.' Was the quiet reply and I smiled as I quickly got into bed and fell asleep.


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello everyone! I'm SO sorry I haven't update this since last year, but to make up for it I've made this chapter pretty long so I hope you enjoy it!**

The next morning was a nightmare. Everyone was rushing around trying to get dressed, do their hair, clean their teeth and while they were all fussing about that Hermione and I had gotten up early and done it all. Well Hermione had gotten up first then woke me up so we could avoid the crowd and at this point I am very glad she did!

We were now just on our way to the Great Hall for breakfast, we had Divination up first, with Professor Trelawney. I had heard of her before, but I didn't know much about her apart from the fact that some of the older students consider to be kinda... Crazy. Mind you they all say terrible things about Father and look how he turned out so I guess we'll just have to find out for ourselves.

Once we got to the classroom and sat down I saw why many people would say Professor Trelawney was weird. She had extra frizzy light brown hair that reached her shoulders, pale skin and dark green eyes that were hidden big, round glasses.

'Welcome, my children.' She greeted slowly standing from her chair. 'In this room you will explore the noble art of Divination! In this room you shall see if you possess the sight-' She bumped into a small table and we all giggled at her lack of "sight." 'I am Professor Trelawney, together we shall cast ourselves into the future! So please, take the cup of the person sitting opposite you. What do you see? The truth lies buried like a sentence deep within a book, waiting to be read. But first, you must broaden your minds. First, you must look beyond!'

'What rubbish.' The three of us turned to see Hermione rolling her eyes as she hissed under her breath.

'Where'd you come from?' Ron asked frowning.

'I've been here all this time.' She replied, we then looked back to Professor Trelawney as she walked over to Neville.

'You boy. Is your grandmother quite well?'

'I-I think so.'

'I wouldn't be so sure of that. Give me the cup.' Dean did as he was asked and cautiously handed over Neville's cup. She took it and looked at the leaves in the bottom, giving a slightly sad look before placing it back on the table. 'Hmm... Pity.' She murmured before turning and continuing to walk around the room, while Neville instantly grabbed the cup and began studying it, tyring to see what the teacher had. 'Broaden your minds. Your aura is pulsing, dear. Are you in the beyond? I think you are.'

'Sure.' Ron replied uncertainly.

'Look at the cup. Tell me what you see.' She encourage, seemingly excited.'Yeah...' Ron looked at the cup and began flipping through a few pages in the textbook looking for the symbols, matching those he could see in the leaves. 'Um... Harry's got sort of a wonky cross. That's trials and suffering, and that there could be the sun and that's happiness. So... You're gonna suffer, but you're gonna be happy about it.' He said disbelievingly.

'Give me the cup.' Trelawney said holding out her hand only to gasp and shriek as Ron did, seeing the leaves in the bottom she hurriedly dropped the cup on the table and stepped back from it before looking to Harry. 'Oh, my dear boy... You have the Grim.'

'The Grin? What's the Grin?' Someone else asked as we all stared.'Not the Grin, you idiot. The Grim.' A boy replied.'Taking form of a giant spectral dog it's among the darkest omens in our world. It's an omen... Of death.'

Harry, Ron, Hermione and I all glanced at each other warily, this wasn't a good sign.

On our way to the next class we were still talking about what happened in Divination.

'You don't think that Grim thing's got anything to do with Sirius Black?' Ronald asked nervously.'Oh, honestly, Ron. If you ask me, Divination's a woolly discipline. Now, Ancient Runes, that's a fascinating subject.' Hermione replied.'Ancient Runes? Exactly how many classes are you taking?' Ron asked.'A fair few. '

'Hang on. That's not possible. Ancient Runes is in the same time as Divination, you'd have to be in two classes at once.' He realised.

'Don't be silly. How could anyone be in two classes at once?' She asked as we walked down the stone steps towards Hagrid's hut. "Broaden your minds. Use your Inner Eye to see the future." She laughed, mocking the Divination professor.

I rolled my eyes and kept walking until soon we reached the hut. There was already a crowd of students there waiting as we mingled around outside, while Hagrid tried to get out attention.

'That's it. Come on, now. Come closer. Less talking, if you don't mind.' He said and we quieted down. 'I got a real treat for you today, a great lesson. So follow me.' He smiled then lead us off into a part of the forest. I couldn't help grinning as we walked along through the trees, there was something about the forest that made it seem so peaceful and yet I knew it was full of horrid and dangerous creatures. My eyes wandered around taking everything in, even the students in front of us, until they caught a mop of blonde hair not far in front of me. Draco! Yay! At least now we get a class together. 'Right, you lot. Less chattering. Form a group over there and open your books to page 49.' Hagrid instructed as we reached a clearing.

'Exactly how do we do that?' Draco asked.

'Just stroke the spine, of course. Goodness me.' Our new professor replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. As we walked into the clearing I saw that Neville had tried to open his book and was now wrestling with it on the ground while the book snapped at him and started tearing his clothes.

'Don't be such a wimp, Longbottom.' Draco said and I sighed, I knew he had to be like that, but I still didn't approve. Everyone else just walked around the boy on the ground, however I stopped and managed to grab the book by the spine, pulling it off Neville and clamping it shut.

'I'm ok. I'm ok.'

'Of course you are Neville.' I smiled. 'Need a hand?' He nodded and I helped him up, still firmly holding the book closed.

'Thanks.' He smiled and cautiously took the monster-like book from me.

'I think they're funny.' I heard Hermione say as I walked over to the rest of the group.

'Oh, yeah. Terribly funny. Very witty. Gosh, this place has gone to the dogs! Wait until Father hears Dumbledore's got this oaf teaching classes.' Draco scoffed and sneered.

'Shut up, Malfoy.' Harry demanded walking over and glaring at the blonde Slytherin.

'Ooh!' Draco and his friends smirked and it looked as if they were going to square off against Harry until I saw the looks on their faces change. All three of them suddenly looked scared and Draco began stuttering a little and pointed in the air behind us.

'Dementor! Dementor!' He cried. The rest of us immediately turned and looked only to see that he had played us. Harry scowled at Draco only for Hermione to put her hand on his shoulder.

'Just ignore him.' She leered at them and they walked off. Draco's eyes then looked to me and I saw him flash me a small smile, but it faded when I shook my head. I didn't like it and he knew it, though I still felt bad for turning around and giving him the cold shoulder as he walked over to stand behind me.

'Sorry.' He whispered in my ear.

Before I could say anything, however, Neville walked past and I heard Ron give a quiet snort.

'You're supposed to stroke it.' He said shaking his head.

'Yeah.' Neville replied annoyed as he sat his book on the nearby rock like many other students had.

'Da da da da!' Hagrid soon appeared with a large creature; it had the body, hind legs and tail of a horse, but had the head, wings and front legs of an eagle, it was also covered in stormy grey feathers!

'Isn't he beautiful? Say hello to Buckbeak.' The half giant smiled while the rest of us just stared.

'Hagrid, exactly what is that?' Ron asked.

'That, Ron, is a hippogriff. First thing you wanna know is they're very proud creatures. Very easily offended. You do not want to insult a hippogriff. It may be the last thing you ever do... Now, who'd like to come and say hello?' After hearing his warning everyone stepped back with the exception of Harry who had been unaware of the fact that he was now a foot in front of everyone else accompanied by myself as I was eager to meet the beast. 'Well done, Harry and Rose. Well done. But I'm afraid only one at a time... Harry how'd you like to come up first, eh?' Harry shook his head.

'R-Rose should-' Ron cut him off as he stepped forward and gave his friend a shove toward Hagrid and Buckbeak.

'Come on now, don't be shy.' Our professor encouraged him as he inched forward. 'Now... You have to let him make the first move. It's only polite. So step up, give him a nice bow, then you wait and see if he bows back. If he does you can go and touch him. If not... Well, we'll get to that later.' Harry glanced at him and nodded, slowly moving toward the beast until he was just a few meters in front of it. 'Just make your bow. Nice and low.'

Harry stared at the hippogriff before bending over in a low bow. I could tell he was nervous. I could almost feel it. My eyes widened and I heard Hermione gasp as "Buckbeak" started to squawk and flap his giant grey wings.

'Back off, Harry. Back off.' Harry did as he was told and began to step back, while still bowing down to the beast. A snap was then heard as the boy stepped on a twig followed by another gasp from Hermione and she grasped Ron's sleeve. 'Keep still. Keep still.' My friend timidly raised his head slightly to look at the creature only to see it step forward slightly and bow back to him. 'Well done, Harry. Well done.' Hagrid clapped.

'Great job Harry.' I smiled.

'Here, you big brute, you.' The professor tossed the hyppogriff some kind of food which it caught and eagerly swallowed. Harry stood up and breathed a small sigh of relief, however I couldn't help laughing as his face once again became frightened and a look "oh no" crossed his face as Hagrid spoke again. 'Right. I think you can go and pat him now. Go on. Don't be shy.' Harry then inched toward Buckbeak and Hagrid nodded encouragingly. 'Nice and slow, now. Nice and slow.' Harry began to speed up a little and outstretched his hand, flinching as the hyppogriff snapped at him. 'Slow. Not so fast, Harry. Slow down, Harry. That's it... Nice and slow. Now let him come to you.' The dark haired boy stopped.

We all watched in anticipation as the creature began to walk towards Harry and I heard a few complaints as Draco and his cronies pushed their way to the front of the group, my blonde friend munching on a green apple. I felt my smile widen further when Buckbeak walked the rest of the way and came to stand directly in front of Harry, nuzzling his face into my friend's hand as he patted him. The class clapped, many of the students staring in wonder and surprise that it hadn't gone badly, while others, like Hermione, Ron and myself, were relieved.

'Well done Harry!' I smiled. Hagrid then strode over to him and while I couldn't hear what the half giant had said Harry's protesting and the fact that Hagrid picked him up made me nervous. When I saw my friend being sat up on the hyppogriff's back I realised what the Professor was intending for him to do. 'Uh oh...'

Hagrid told Harry something then went and slapped the animal's rear, causing it to rear back and squawk before racing off across the dirt, flapping its wings then taking off into the sky! I heard Harry shout as he was carried away and the rest of us students raced to the wall trying to see him for as long as we could until the two of them disappeared.

'Well there goes Potter. Finger's crossed he doesn't come back!' Malfoy and his friends laughed.

'Oh be quiet Malfoy.' I rolled my eyes. 'Harry can ride anything that flies and I bet that he's having the time of his life up there!' Draco quieted down after I told him off, knowing that if he kept going the two of us might do something that we would regret later. I could hear the other boys egging him on to tease me about something, but Draco told them to let it drop and they did.

It was a little while before Harry and Buckbeak came back and I was beginning to worry, though I knew I shouldn't have been since something inside me just felt so happy and I was fairly sure that Harry was alright. My gut feeling proved to be correct as my friend flew back to where we were and I grinned as Buckbeak ran back to his spot and stopped so that Hagrid could help Harry off his back.

'Well done Harry and well done Buckbeak!' Hagrid praised.

'Great job Harry!' Hermione and I cheered along with everyone else until Draco once again decided to be an idiot. He shoved a couple of students out of his way then swaggered over toward Buckbeak, being his over confident, cocky self.

'Yeah... You're not dangerous at all, are you?! You great ugly brute!' He smirked.

'No...!' I said quietly and shook my head.

'Malfoy...!' Hagrid warned his eyes widening. Buckbeak then reared once again, letting out a loud squawk and my heart stopped as the hyppogriff brought his talons down and Draco swiftly covered his face. The boy let cried out as he was struck and fell to the ground. Hagrid swiftly stepped in between him and the creature who was still rearing and making noise.

'Buckbeak!' Hagrid tried to scold him and stop it, eventually resorting to throwing food so that it would run for it. I raced over to Draco as he lied on the ground sniffling.

'It's killed me!' He cried rather melodramatically.

'C-Calm down, i-it's just a scratch!' Hagrid said, but I looked and shook my head. The gash was deep and I could see blood glistening on his arm as it rushed from the wound.

'Hagrid, he needs to be taken to the hospital!' I stated firmly.

'I'm the teacher, I'll do it.' He said and picked up the blonde Slytherin. 'Class dismissed!' He announced as he carried my friend away.

'Bloody chicken!' I heard him curse and shook my head, it was his fault he got hurt. Not Buckbeak's. I turned to see Harry once again patting the hyppogriff and I flashed him a small smile before going to make sure Draco was alright. Gee he could be stupid at times.


	17. Chapter 17

I followed Hagrid and Draco to the hospital wing the remained outside in the hall until Madame Pomfrey was finished with his arm before I walked in. The Hospital was quiet and, apart from Draco, empty. As usual it smelt of cleaning and antibacterial cleaners, it's odd that despite using magic they sometimes clean the muggle way here, and I wrinkled my nose slightly. I sighed and shook my head as I walked to the bed Draco was sitting in, his arm had been bandaged and he pouted until his grey eyes looked over and saw me.

'Rose!' His face lit up.

'Hello Draco.' I gave him a small smile and came to stand beside his bed. 'Are you ok?'

'Yes, I-'

'Good, because I honestly don't know why I'm speaking to you, Draco Lucius Malfoy!' He cowered slightly at the use of his full name. 'You nearly gave me a heart attack! How could you be so stupid?!' I whacked his good arm.

'I thought that if Harry could do it...'

'You could do it too? Well let me tell you something, Harry did it because he went about it the right way! Didn't you hear Hagrid's warning?!'

'Yes.' He nodded, ashamed.

'Uh! I swear Draco if Hagrid doesn't have you put on detention I will!'

'What?! Rose!'

'Don't you Rose me! You deserve to be taught a lesson! In fact I might just go and tell Dumbledore what you did now.' I turned and started walking toward the door,

'You just wait until my father hears about this!' He called and I just kept walking.

I was shocked that he would use that fraise with me. Of course I knew it was something he often resorted to around others but never with me, mostly because I know he's not the spoilt rich boy Slytherin prat he pretends to be. Today, however, he had certainly been going out of his way to make me think he was.

I shook my head as I walked to the Great Hall for lunch, and upon arriving there, sat down with my friends.

'How is he?' Hermione asked.

'How's who?'

'Oh come on, we know you went to see Malfoy.' Ron replied.

'Ah...' I nodded.

'So how's he doing?' Hermione asked again.

'Good.'

'That it? Can't go into anymore detail?' Ron asked.

'I don't really feel like talking about him to be honest, and besides you'll find out soon enough.' I shrugged and started eating, quickly glancing out our schedule only to smile when I saw we had transfiguration next.

That night the unthinkable happened. Draco actually carried out his threat and told his father about Buckbeak! We were sitting in the Great Hall, having our dinner and talking when we overheard Draco at the Slytherin table not far from us, conversing with his Slytherin groupies. He was going on about his stupid little injury and while I had secretly been concerned him at first, by now I was just sick and tired of hearing about it!

'Does it hurt terribly, Draco?' I groaned as I heard the voice of Pansy Parkinson.

'It comes and it goes.' He shrugged, pretending that he wasn't trying to make a fuss. 'Still... I consider myself lucky. According to Madame Pomfrey another minute or two and I uh... Could have lost my arm. Couldn't possibly do any homework with this.' I rolled my eyes, turning my back to him.

'The git's really laying it on thick, isn't he?'

'Of course he is, he's a Malfoy.' I replied. 'I still can't believe he told Lucius about Buckbeak.'

'At least Hagrid didn't get fired.' Harry said, trying to point out at least one positive thing.

'Well I heard Draco's father's furious, we haven't heard the end of this.' Hermione murmured before we were interrupted.

'He's been sighted! He's been sighted!' Seamus ran down the table waving a copy of the Daily Prophet.

'Who has?' Someone else asked.

'Sirius Black!'

'What?!' Gasps echoed from the majority of people who were sitting at the Gryffindor table. Seamus laid the newspaper down on the table and students gathered around trying to look at it. I slid down the bench as I was sitting on the other side and looked at the article while I saw Hermione manage to read over Seamus's shoulder.

'Dufftown?' Hermione read, shocked. 'That's not far from here.'

'You don't think he'd come to Hogwarts, do you?' Neville asked nervously.

'What, with dementors at every entrance?'

'Dementors, he's already slipped past them once hasn't he? Who's to say he won't do it again?' Seamus replied.

'That's right. Black could be anywhere. It's like trying to catch smoke, like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands.'

I stared down at the article in the newspaper, watching the photo of Sirius black. He looked like a terrible, horrible man, but on closer inspection of his eyes I saw that they didn't have the madness in them that was on the rest of his face... Hmm...

Not long after that I retired to Gryffindor Tower and went up to bed, giving Mabel her dinner before brushing my teeth, changing into my pyjamas and slipping into bed. I smiled at my cat as she jumped up and lied down on the bed beside me, I nuzzled my face into her fur. 'Goodnight Mabel.' She meowed in response then I closed my eyes and slipped into a comfortable sleep.

The next day we had Defence Against the Dark Arts with the new professor, Professor Lupin and I was looking forward to it.

'I hope this one's better than Lockhart.' Ron said as we walked toward the classroom.

'You're kidding right? No one could be worse than him.' I pointed out, making my friends laugh.

'To true, Rose.' The ginger haired boy grinned.

'So what do we know about Lupin anyway?' I asked.

'Not much apart from the fact he knows how to repel dementors.' Harry replied.

'You're right, that's not much, but at least we know it might come in useful, given that they are now at all the entrances to the grounds.' I nodded. 'Nothing else?'

'No.'

'Where's Hermione when you need her?' Ron asked.

'Don't know.' Harry shrugged. 'I doubt she'd know much about this professor anyway.'

'Oh well, that's just going to make it more fun to find out.'

We then walked into the classroom only to find that all of the tables had been moved and towards the front of the room stood an old wardrobe. I looked around for the professor, but he appeared to be absent. As the students gathered inside we all watched the wardrobe shake and rock, it was clear that there was something inside and whatever it was, it wanted out.

'Intriguing, isn't it? Would anyone like to venture a guess... As to what is inside?' Lupin asked as he walked in and came over to the wardrobe.

'That's a boggart, that is.' Dean replied.

'Very good, Mr. Thomas. Now, can anybody tell me what a boggart looks like?'

'No one knows.' I turned my head to see Hermione standing next to me as she answered the teachers question.

'When did she get here?' Ronald asked, no one was able to give the boy an answer.

'Boggarts are shape-shifters. They take the shape of whatever a person fears the most. That's what makes them so-'

'So terrifying, yes.' Our professor cut her off. 'Luckily, a very simple charm exists to repel a boggart. Let's practice it now. Uh without wands, please. After me. Riddikulus!'

"Riddikulus!" We repeated.

'Very good. A little louder and very clear. Listen: Riddikulus!'

"Riddikulus!" The class once again spoke the incantation, though apparently some of the students were having trouble focusing and taking this seriously.

'This class is ridiculous.'

'Very good. So much for the easy part. You see, the incantation alone is not enough. What really finishes a boggart is laughter. You need to force it to assume a shape you find truly amusing. Let me explain. Neville, would you join me, please?' Everyone looked around nervously. Neville wasn't exactly known for his competency and was apprehensive about walking over to the professor. 'Come on, don't be shy. Come on. Come on. Hello.' He encouraged him until the boy stood beside him. 'Neville, what frightens you most of all?'

Neville mumbled something incoherent and he glanced away shyly. 'Sorry?'

'Professor Snape.' He spoke up a little louder and we all had little giggle.

'Professor Snape.' He chuckled. 'Yes, frightens all. Now I believe you live with your grandmother...'

'Yes, but I don't want it to turn into her, either.' Once again we laughed.

'No... It won't. I want you to picture her clothes. Only her clothes, very clearly, in your mind.

'She carries a red handbag...'

'We don't need to hear. As long as you see it, we'll see it. Now, when I open that wardrobe... Here's what I want you to do. Excuse me.' He came closer and whispered in the Gryffindor's ear before stepping back. 'Can you do that? Yes.' He said before the other could answer then turned toward the wardrobe. 'Wand at the ready. One, two, three.'

The door opened any my eyes widened none other than my father crept out! He glared at all of us and towered over Neville, who was petrified and stared up at him, trembling.

'Think, Neville, think.' Lupin tried to inspire confidence in the student.

'Riddikulus!' He cried and suddenly Snape was dressed in strange clothes, holding a red handbag and wearing an old hat with a stuffed bird on it! Everyone in the class laughed hysterically and I couldn't help grinning.

'Wonderful, Neville, wonderful! Incredible!' Lupin praised him. 'Okay... To the back, Neville. Everyone, form a line... Form a line!' He instructed and everyone moved and attempted to form a line though it wasn't very orderly. 'I want everyone to picture the thing they fear the very most... and turn it into something funny.' He went over to a desk and began playing music. 'Next! Ron!' Ronald stepped up. 'Concentrate. Face your fear. Be brave!'

Soon father disappeared and was replaced by a huge red back spider! I gulped, I hated spiders and the sight of such a big one was enough to make me start backing away slightly. Ron whimpered and his face morphed into one of terror. Wand at the ready, Ron, wand at the ready.'

'Riddikulus!'

The spider then began to slip and slide as roller skates appeared on its feet! I laughed as the over sized arachnid struggled to stand. 'Well done Ron!' I grinned.

'Yes! You see? Very good, very good! Marvelous! Absolutely, very, very enjoyable. Parvati! Next! Show us what you see.' After staring for a moment Pavati's eyes widened as the creature was replaced by a giant snake! She began to tremble. 'Keep your nerve. Steady.'

'Riddikulus!' The serpent changed into a jack-in-the-box.

'And next! Step up, step up!' Several more students had their go before it was Harry's turn. I stared as I felt myself start to worry a little, my friend had been through a lot and if boggarts took the shape of whatever he feared the most then it looked likely that we were about to have Voldemort show up in the room and I could see that Professor Lupin was thinking the same thing.

Harry stood still for a moment, as if thinking about what his greatest fear was when the boggart changed and transformed into a dementor. Harry's face showed fear as the dark spectre flew towards him, it's "mouth" agape. Lupin then yelled and threw himself in front of my friend and the boggart changed into... A full moon? Strange. Who would be afraid of a full moon? They're beautiful...

'Riddikulus!' The professor cried, pointing his wand at the boggart and I smiled as it changed into a balloon and began to zip through the air around the classroom, causing us students to duck. However it was soon sent back into the wardrobe which was shut and locked, preventing the beast from escaping again. 'Right. Sorry about that. That's enough for today.' Everyone groaned, disappointed. 'Collect your books from the back. That's the end of the lesson. Thank you! Sorry!' We slowly moved to get our things. 'Sorry, you can have too much of a good thing.'

That's true you can, but not when three quarters of the class didn't get a go at it...!


	18. Chapter 18

**Thanks for the review Pheonixx Rising! I really hope you answer my question at the bottom, it is related to your review... ;)**

-/-/-

'Well that was fun while it lasted.' Hermione said as we walked back to Gryffindor Tower.

'Yeah, I don't think I'll ever forget the look on Ron's face when the boggart turned into that spider! That was hilarious!' I grinned.

'Hey you can't talk, you don't like spiders either!' Ron pointed out.

'That's true, but I didn't stand there whimpering and whining like a wuss!'

'Humph!' Ronald pouted making the three of us laugh.

'I wish I'd been able to have a turn.' Hermione sighed.

'Me too.' I nodded.

'Oh well, I wonder why Professor Lupin made us stop after Harry's turn.'

'No idea.' Harry shrugged. 'Anyway, we should probably keep an eye on these stairs, we don't want a repeat of first year now, do we?' We all shook our heads.

'No way!'

So we went up the stairs, thankfully without a hitch, and after giving the Fat Lady the password went into the Common Room.

'Tomorrow we get to go to Hogsmeade.' Mione smiled.

'Ooh yay!' I grinned as I sat down on the floor in front of the fireplace while the others sat on the couch. 'Hogsmeade is great, especially Honeydukes.'.

'You've been there?' Ron asked surprised, I nodded.

'Yeah, father took me there last years so I could get Christmas presents for you guys.' I explained.

'Oh.' They all nodded in understanding.

'So what's it like?' Hermione asked.

So I told them all about the village and what it had been like to go there.

'Come on, get up!' Hermione shook me awake the next morning.

'Alright, alright, I'm up!' I replied opening my eyes sleepily and sitting up in bed. 'What's the hurry?' I asked looking around the room and seeing all the girls hurriedly getting ready.

'We're going to Hogsmeade!' One of them answered and I nodded, remembering that we were going to the village for the day.

'Oh yeah... So? There's no need to run around like chickens with your heads cut off!' I exclaimed and hauled myself out of bed before getting dressed in black jeans a white long sleeve shirt with a cat on it and a light blue jumper. I then cleaned my teeth and gave Mabel a pat with her breakfast then joined everyone in going downstairs to the Common Room where we found the boys heading out the portrait hole. 'Morning Ron, Dean, where's Harry?' I asked.

'Don't know.' Dean shrugged.

I was about to reply, however the girls soon started pushing us out the portrait hole and began running down the steps and I was forced to do the same to keep up. As we went into the court yard we found Professor McGonagall and Mr Filch waiting for us.

'Remember, these visits to Hogsmeade village are a privilege. Should your behavior reflect poorly on the school that privilege shall not be extended again.' Then Harry appeared, a note in his hand. 'No permission form signed, no visiting the village. That's the rule, Potter.' The head of house said.

'Those with permission, follow me. Those without, stay put.' Filch announced and sneered at the boy before walking off, the majority of students following behind him while Hermione, Ronald and I stayed with Harry.

'I thought if you signed it, then I could...'

'I can't. Only a parent or a guardian can sign. Since I am neither, it would be inappropriate. I'm sorry, Potter. That's my final word.' She gave him an apologetic look then went after the others. We stared at Harry sadly.

'Forget about it, guys. See you later.' Sighing my friends turned and left, but I decided to stay with him. As he began to walk away I followed him, smiling as he turned to look at me, surprise evident on his face. 'Shouldn't you be going with them?'

'Nah, I've been there before and besides I'd rather hang around with you.'

'Thanks... Actually I was about to go and see Professor Lupin.'

'Great, I need to talk to him... I want to ask if I can have a go at the boggart. I want to know what my greatest fear is.'

'Don't you already know?' He asked confused. I shook my head.

'Not really, no. That's why I want to find out.'

We soon found the professor and we ended up talking to him on the bridge that lead to Hagrid's hut and the Quidditch pitch. Although I didn't actually do much talking.

'Professor, can I ask you something?' Harry asked as the two of them stood looking out at the view.

'You want to know why I stopped you facing that boggart, yes? I thought it'd be obvious. I assumed it would take the shape of Lord Voldemort.' He replied.

'I did think of Voldemort at first... But then I remembered that night on the train... And the dementor.'

'I'm very impressed. That suggests what you fear the most is fear itself. This is very wise.' He nodded,

'Before I fainted... I heard something. A woman... Screaming.'

'Dementors force us to relive our very worst memories. Our pain becomes their power.'

'I think it was my mother... The night she was murdered.' He murmured softly.

I shuddered, I couldn't imagine what that would feel like, to hear something like that, it made me feel sick. I know that my own mother had been murdered by Voldemort, but unlike Harry I didn't know of my mother's identity. I only knew that her death had been my fault. However I shook the thoughts from my head.

'The very first time I saw you, Harry, I recognized you immediately. Not by your scar, by your eyes. They're your mother, Lily's.'

'Yes.' Harry nodded, I believe he's been told that before. 'Wait, you knew her?'

'Oh, yes. I knew her. Your mother was there for me at a time when no one else was. Not only was she a singularly gifted witch... She was also an uncommonly kind woman. She had a way of seeing the beauty in others... Even, and most especially, when that person could not see it in themselves. Your father, James, on the other hand... He... He had a certain, shall we say, talent for trouble. A talent, rumor has it,

he passed on to you.' The professor smirked and so did I, Harry Potter had definitely inherited that. 'You're more like them than you know, Harry. In time, you'll come to see just how much.'

Harry smiled, I could tell he was wondering just how much time it would take for him to see that, but before he could say anything the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher looked at me. I could see hints of what looked to be... Curiosity? Shining in his eyes.

'Sir?' I asked, feeling a little confused as to why he was looking at me.

'Who are you?' He asked.

'My name is Rose-'

'Snape?' He cut me off, I nodded.

'That's me.'

'Well, Snape's long lost daughter really has been found. I had heard rumours, but to be honest I wasn't sure whether or they were true.' He walked over to me and we shook hands. 'It's nice to see you again.'

'Again?'

When had he seen me before?

'Yes, I met you when you were just a baby, Snape wanted us to try and protect you, however our plan to do so failed... Then you were given up for adoption.' He looked at me sadly.

'I see, well in that case, it's good to see you again too, Professor. Actually I have a favour to ask...'

'What is it?'

'I was wondering if you would let me try using Riddikulus against a boggart.'

'Hmm... Well I don't see why not.' He nodded and I grinned.

'Thank you!' He chuckled, smiling.

'You're welcome, come now and I'll let you try.' So the three of us walked back to the castle and into the DADA classroom, where the wardrobe was still sitting and rocking as the boggart wanted out. 'So you remember how to do it?'

'Of course.' I nodded.

'Very well then, get ready... Here it comes...!' He flicked his wand and the door to the wardrobe clicked as it unlocked. I braced myself to see whatever I feared the most coming out of it, but of all the things I had expected this wasn't one of them...!

-/-/-

 **Sorry for the short chapter, but I wanted to ask what do you guys think Rose's greatest fear will be? Please let me know and if you liked this chapter why not give it a vote, thanks!**

 **~ Lexa**


	19. Chapter 19

**Thank you to Pheonixx Rising for your comments and support, I hope you like this chapter!**

-/-/-

The cupboard door was flung open and I squeaked in fear when I saw who came out. Mr Partridge stormed out of the wardrobe and marched across the room to stand over the top of me. The man was red in the face, the color of an over-ripe tomato, his dark eyes eyes squinting meanly as they bored into me and he raised a fist to me before profanities began pouring out of his big mouth.

I began to shake as his harsh words hit me like a ton of bricks, he called me names, said I was worthless, nothing more than a waste of space. He called me a freak and wished I had never been dumped on him and Mrs Partridge then he began bad mouthing her. He confessed he didn't know why he ever married her, apparently both she and I were ugly as sin and both just as incompetent as one another. Spit flew from his mouth as he ranted and raged at me, I whimpered and cringed like a coward.

No...! No! This isn't real! He's not here he can't hurt me now! Don't be scared, don't be scared! I shook my head as I tried to tell myself these things, but it felt real and I was scared.

I thought I was free of this, I thought that even if I heard such things again that I would be able to just let it roll off me like water off a ducks back, but I was wrong. I was still just as weak as I had been when I lived with this horrid man. I had grown up knowing that my father had hated me, that to him I was a curse on his life and I would never be anything else.

But that wasn't true... Partridge wasn't my real father, merely one whom I had been forced to live with when Mrs Partridge adopted me. My REAL father loved me! He cared about me and thought I was a bright and talented young witch! I heard his voice telling me he loved me and that Partridge was a narrow-minded fool and that spurred me on!

I can do this, I can defeat this thing! It's just a test, that's all, and I will pass it! Father would want me to be able to pass this and I am going to make him proud of me!

'Courage, Rose, courage! Use the spell!' The professor encouraged me and without another word I glared at the boggart and pointed my wand at it.

'Riddikulus!' The boggart was forced to change and suddenly, after being warped and reshaped, Mr Partridge looked like an ape, covered in thick brown fur with a face even larger and rounder than normal and in the middle of that face sat a huge nose with a wart of the end of it! He was now slightly hunched of

I burst out laughing at the sight of my transformed nightmare of a foster father, no longer was he the monster I remembered growing up in the Partridge house, now he was a rather funny looking monkey! I grinned at Harry and he smiled back as the ape looked at us with a horrified expression before going back to hide in the wardrobe where Professor Lupin trapped it inside, locking the door so it wouldn't escape.

'How many marks would I get for that, sir?' I asked Lupin.

'Full marks for using the spell and extra points for courage.' He gave me a small smile, but I could see a tinge of sadness in his eyes. 'Who was he?'

'Just an old nightmare.' I replied, shrugging it off, though inside I was shaken. I hoped that I didn't encounter a boggart again for a long time.

'Are you ok?' Harry asked me as walked through the halls, away from the classroom. I nodded, flashing Harry a smile, though I think he knew it was force, it didn't reach my eyes.

'Yeah I'm ok.'

'You sure? You looked a little scared back there, if you don't mind me saying.'

'I was. Seeing him again terrified me, especially like that. I felt so small when he towered over the top of me and started yelling at me, just like I used to when I lived with him... He would always make fun of me, insult me, criticise me, ridicule me and scream and yell at me...' I felt my throat tighten and I began to blink more rapidly as tears began to well in my eyes, threatening to spill over onto my cheeks.

Harry put his arm around me and gently pulled me closer to him as we walked. 'I know... It's ok now though, you have Snape and your brother and sister, they love you and care for you. You never have to go back to him again. You're safe now, ok? ...And if Snape ever hurts you then I will make sure he pays...! I will never let anyone hurt you again!' He stopped walking and made me turn to face him before hugging me.

His embrace was warm, and his big, strong arms seemed very protective when wrapped around my sniffling form and I eagerly hugged him back. The arms that held me were soft, yet strong. The hug was a simple enough gesture - affection, reminding me of how much he was a brother to me. He understood what it was like to have family, real or not, that didn't appreciate you, that in a word, hated you. He and I both wanted the same things, a real family. People that loved us, cared about us and kept us safe. Now I had that, what made me feel worse was that, he didn't.

We stayed there like that for a long time, though it didn't really feel like that. When we pulled away from each other I thanked him, he said it was nothing and to come to him whenever I needed someone just to be there for me. Apparently "his ears were always willing to listen and his arms were always ready to give me hugs". I smile knowing that he would always be there for me.

We agreed to keep this whole incident between the two of us so when Hermione and Ronald returned from Hogsmeade we didn't mention it.

We met the others at the entrance to the school and then headed back to the moving stairs and up to Gryffindor Tower, all the while Hermione and Ron told us about their excursion to Hogsmeade village

'Honeyduke's Sweetshop is brilliant, but nothing beats Zonko's Joke Shop. We never did get to go to the Shrieking Shack. You heard it's the most-'

'Haunted building in Britain. I know.' Harry nodded, cutting Ronald off mid sentence. I looked at the ginger surprised.

'I didn't know that, I didn't get to look at that when father took me.' I said as we came to the stairs leading up to the portrait hole of the tower where a lot of students had gathered and stopped for some unknown reason.

'What's going on?' Harry asked the question we were all wondering.

'Probably Neville forgot the password again.' Ron rolled his eyes and smirked.

'Hey!' We all turned and saw Neville standing behind us looking rather annoyed.

'Oh, you're there.' Ron looked mildly surprised, however he still had that all to annoying smirk on his face.

'Let me through, please. Excuse me! I'm Head Boy! Get back, all of you! No one is to enter this dormitory until it's been fully searched.' One of Ron's older brothers was coming down the other set of stairs, ordering everyone aside and pushing past anyone who refused to move.

'The Fat Lady! She's gone!' Ginny came back through the crowd and informed us. My eyes widened at the news, why would the Fat Lady abandon her post?

'Serves her right. She was a terrible singer.' Ron snorted.

'It's not funny, Ron.' Hermione scolded him.

We were then able to see as the crowd separated slightly into two halves and we saw the portrait. The Fat Lady was indeed gone and in her place, right in the centre of the painting, there were slashes in the painting where it was now ripped and torn. As though an animal had become angry and ripped through it! Claw marks could even be seen on the door itself!

'Keep calm, everyone. Break into fours. Back to your common room. Be quiet.' Percy tried to keep things as orderly as possible, but to no avail. Everyone merely ignored him.

'Make way.' We moved to the railings as Dumbledore came up the steps, surprisingly quickly for someone who appeared to be as old as he did.

'The headmaster's here.' The older Weasley announced, stating the obvious.

'Come on, move.' Dumbledore ordered.

We all watched as the headmaster looked at the painting, gently pushing back part of it to cover the gap that was now there and he ran his fingers along it before stepping back, allowing it to curl back over where it had been ripped. He turned and looked around, no doubt scanning the other paintings for where the Fat Lady might be.

'Mr Filch, round up the ghosts. Tell them to search every painting in the castle, to find the Fat Lady.'

'There's no need for ghosts Professor. The Fat Lady's there.' The man pointed a long crooked finger toward a painting, just up the stairs a little.

Immediately everyone took off up the stairs, accept those who were already nearby, headed for the painting. This meant that Percy was forced to press himself back against the wall to avoid being crushed by the torrent of other students.

'Hey! Mind where you're going! Slow down! I'm head boy!' He cried, once again no one paid him any mind.

'Dear lady, who did this to you?' Dumbledore asked concerned. By this time many of the other paintings were making a ruckus and as we grew closer we saw that the Fat Lady was now hiding behind a hippopotamus in an African picture and she whimpered as she poked her head over the hippo. I had to stop myself from laughing at the funny hat she was wearing.

'Eyes like the devil, he's got, and a soul as dark as his name. It's him, headmaster. The one they all talk about. He's here, somewhere in the castle! Sirius Black!' She cried only to whimper in fear once again and disappear behind the dark coloured hippo.

'Secure the castle, Mr. Filch. The rest of you, to the Great Hall.'

We all turned almost immediately and went back down the steps toward the Great Hall as the headmaster had instructed, though I saw Harry staring at the Fat Lady for just a moment longer before he followed us. Soon we broke into a run as many feared at that the infamous Azkaban escape Sirius Black was still in the castle and that he would be waiting and eager to strike against us. The sound of hundreds of footsteps thundering through the corridors as we went echoed around us and my mind whirred with questions.

Why would Sirius Black be here? Why would he go to Gryffindor Tower? How did he get into the castle? I knew the answers to some of those questions was right beside me and I glanced at Harry. His green eyes flickered to me, his face held an expression of worry.

I had heard the huge locks of the door to the castle lock, the sound echoing around the stone walls. When we got to the hall we saw that many of the teachers had been called to gather there and right when Dumbledore began giving them instructions on what to do I ran over to my father.

'Father.' I squeaked and he hugged me.

'Thank goodness you weren't in the Common Room when he tried to get in.' He breathed, holding me tightly. For a moment he almost seemed to forget the other teachers were there and it was not until Dumbledore cleared his throat that he let go of me and returned his attention to the headmaster.

I went back to stand with Harry, Hermione and Ron, along with all the other students that were standing around. However that didn't last long as I saw Draco and went over to him.

'Are you alright?' He asked, worried. 'We heard that Black tried to get into Gryffindor's Common Room.'

'I'm fine, I wasn't there when it happened.' I explained.

'Good. I don't like the idea of you being hurt by that creep.'

'You really do care.' I smiled.

'Of course I do, you're my friend.'

That night sleeping bags and pillows were all brought to us and we were made sleep in lines along the sides of the Great Hall. I lied in between Harry and Hermione while Ron was on the other side of Harry. As night fell and the sky darkened, shadows were cast in the hall, adding to the eerie ambience we all felt. Everyone was expected to be asleep by the usual time and as time went on, the students all began to fall asleep and the soft sounds of snoring grew louder as more joined the chorus.

However I couldn't sleep, the excitement the night had brought was keeping me awake and I lay on my back, staring at the ceiling. I love how the stars on the ceiling had changed and without the candles there to obstruct them I had a perfect view. I smiled softly, the only way this could be any better was if I was snuggled on the couch in father's quarters with him looking at these stars.

Unfortunately I was forced to close my eyes and pretend to be asleep when the teachers walked back into the hall and I decided to listen in to see how the search for Black was going.

'I've searched the Astronomy Tower and the Owlery. There's nothing there.' I didn't recognise the voice.

'Thank you.' I knew that was Dumbledore.

'The third floor's clear too, sir.' I think that was Professor Flitwick, but I wasn't sure.

'Very good.'

'I've done the dungeons. No sign of Black, nor anywhere else in the castle.' I instantly recognised my father's voice.

'I didn't really expect him to linger.'

'Remarkable feat, don't you think? To enter Hogwarts Castle on one's own... Completely undetected?'

'Quite remarkable, yes.' I heard them slowly start walking down the isle that had been made between the students down the middle of the large room.

'Any theories on how he managed it?'

'Many. Each as unlikely as the next.'

'You may recall... Prior to the start of term I expressed concerns... About your appointment of Professor...' I wondered who my father suspected, I would have to ask him later about it.

'Not a single professor inside this castle would help Sirius Black enter it. I'm quite convinced the castle is safe... And I'm more than willing to send the students to their houses.'

Aw not now! I want to stay here!

'What about Potter? Should he be warned?'

'Perhaps. But for now, let him sleep. For in dreams, we enter a world that's entirely our own. Let them swim in the deepest ocean or glide over the highest cloud.' That was true, but I had the feeling that Harry had heard every word that had just been said...


	20. Chapter 20

When we got up in the morning everyone was still a buzz from what happened last night, but things were soon back to normal and we were asked to go back to our rooms to get changed and ready for the day. However on the way back to the tower I couldn't help taking a slight detour to um... The dungeons. Heh. Well I couldn't help it I needed to talk to father, I had to ask him about Sirius Black and if Harry was really in danger.

On the way down to the dungeons I found myself wondering if the good professor would really be in his chambers near the dungeons or if he would be in his classroom. It didn't really matter, I would just check both, but I was a bit curious as to what he was up to. However I needed to stay focussed, my friend's life could be in danger after all! Upon passing the Slytherin Common Room I felt a chill rise up my spine, there really was something about that house that gave me the chills, maybe it was because of what happened with Bulstrode and those other Slytherin creeps did when they choked me.

So I hurried past the place and continued on to the potions classroom then knocked on the door. 'Hello? Professor are you there?' No answer. I was about to go to his quarters when I heard a grunt and a growl. Without warning the door suddenly flew open and an angry looking Severus Snape glared down at me, my breath hitched in my throat as I stared at him.

'What do you- Rose?' His expression switched to surprise then slowly changed to guilt. 'Rose I'm sorry, I didn't expect it to be you, did I frighten you?'

'You gave me a bit of scare but I'm not about to have nightmares about it.' I shrugged it off.

'I'm really sorry Rose, please come in.' He stepped aside and once I was inside with the door shut behind me he bent down and wrapped his arms around me in a hug. 'So I didn't scare you too much?'

'No.' I shook my head.

'I'm glad.' He smiled and I snuggled into him briefly before pulling back to hold him at arm's length.

'Now there's something I need to talk to you about.'

'And what would that be?'

'Harry.'

'Oh... Now why would you be asking me about Mr Potter?'

'Because I heard you and Dumbledore talking about him last night after everyone else was asleep in the Great Hall.'

'I see and you were being a naughty girl by staying awake, correct?' He smirked.

'Yes...' I nodded giving him a small smile.

'I see... Well then. I guess you deserve to know that yes Mr Potter could be in danger with Sirius Black around. Don't worry too much, however, I'm confident he will be caught soon. He can't hide forever.'

'I hope you're right...'

So I spent a while with my father before heading up to Gryffindor Tower to feed my beautiful kitty-cat Mabel as well as grab all the books I was going to need for today's lessons. I wasn't much looking forward to attending classes, but hey I wasn't about to try and get out of them. Father would kill me if I did.

It was these thoughts, along with others that I won't bother to think about again, that I made the effort to arrive to my first class a little early. Surprisingly enough I apparently wasn't the only one who wanted to get a good jump on the day as I saw someone already waiting at the classroom for Defence Against the Dark Arts.

'Morning Draco!' I smiled cheerfully as I can to stand beside him.

'Someone's in a good mood today.' He smirked in reply.

'I guess you could say that.' I nodded when in truth I was just happy to see him. 'So what's up?'

'Not much, I've just been waiting here for someone to show up.' He shrugged casually.

'I see, so why are you here early?'

'Because I am.'

'And why is that?'

'Because I wanted to be here early.'

'Why?'

'Because.'

'Because why?' I pressed on and we both stared at each other for a moment before breaking out in laughter.

'You ask too many questions.'

'Sorry.'

'Oh don't be sorry, I was just kidding.'

'I know that silly.'

The two of us continued to talk until more of our fellow students arrived, when they did we were of course forced to act as enemies once again. After all we couldn't have everyone knowing just how nice the blonde haired Slytherin prince is, could we? Of course not. So we had to stop talking, making sure to shoot each other the occasional glare.

Once more kids showed up we were allowed to file into the room and take our seats. I sat in the fourth row behind Harry who was in the third, along with Draco and Ron. When we heard footsteps come and the teacher strode through the middle of the classroom I turned to look and was surprised to see Professor Snape as he flicked his wand at each of the window shutters, closing them. He came to the front of the classroom, turned on his heel to face us with a glare and pulled down the projector screen.

Why is he taking this class?

I looked at him questioningly but all I got was a split second glance before he looked back at the rest of the class. 'Turn to page 394.' He drawled. We all opened our books and started looking for the page he had asked us to go to.

'Excuse me sir, but... Where's Professor Lupin?' Harry asked and my father glared at him.

'That's not really your concern, is it Potter? Suffice it to say, your Professor finds himself incapable of teaching at the present time. Page 394.' He replied and went to the projector at the back of the classroom, tapping his wand on it in different places, allowing it to turn on.

I looked over at Ron and saw him casually flipping through the pages, ever so slowly, and I had the feeling my father wasn't going to like that. It turns out I was right because seconds later Ronald's book went straight to the right page and he stared at it in surprise before frowning.

'Werewolves?' He questioned, making me confused. We weren't supposed to be looking at werewolves, what was dad up to?

'But sir, we've only just begun learning about Red Caps and Hinkypunks. We're not meant to start nocturnal beasts for weeks.' I suddenly looked to see Hermione in the seat next to Harry.

When? How? I shook my head slightly, confused.

'Quiet.' He spoke slowly but we could all hear the underlying threat, making us fall silent again. With the exception of a certain ginger who still whispered to Harry.

'When did she come in? Did you see her come in?' Ron asked, shocked to see our bushy-haired friend. Harry shook his head before we returned our attention back to Snape.

'Now, which one of you can tell me the difference between an Animagus and a werewolf?' The teacher slowly walked back to the screen and Hermione put her hand up, however he just ignored her. He didn't even turn around to look before saying, 'No one? How disappointing.' As usual though Hermione was determined to answer.

'Please, sir. An Animagus is a wizard who elects to turn into an animal. A werewolf has no choice. With each full moon he no longer remembers who he is. He'd kill his best friend if he crossed his path. Furthermore the werewolf only responds to the call of its own kind. '

'Awooooh!' Draco put his head back and howled before snickering with his friends only to be silenced by Snape.

'Thank you, Mr Malfoy. That is the second time you have spoke out of turn, Miss Granger. Are you incapable of restraining yourself or do you take pleasure in being an insufferable know it all?' He sneered at her. Hermione looked down, embarrassed and it took all the will I had not to go over and slap him!

To add insult to injury I heard Ronald agree with him! 'He's got a point you know.' I growled menacingly at the red head who then cowered away and pretended to focus on his book.

'Five points from Gryffindor. As an antidote to your ignorance, and on my desk, by Monday morning two rolls of parchment on the werewolf-' Everyone groaned. 'With particular emphasis on recognizing it.'

'Sir it's quidditch tomorrow.' Harry pointed out as my father neared his desk. Dad bent over and glared at the boy, his hands on his desk as he sneered.

'Then I suggest you take extra care, Mr. Potter. Loss of limb will not excuse you. Page 394.' He then straightened up and moved away from Harry. As Snape walked back down the centre of the classroom towards the projector I stuck out my foot, not to trip him, though I would have liked to, but to warn him that if he spoke to my friend that way again he would have a very unhappy daughter on his hands. My father continued talking as he moved to the back of the class, but I wasn't really listening to what he said.

Instead my attention was focused on Draco and what he was doing. I had seen his scrawling something on a piece of parchment and then watched him turn into a little origami crane which then flew from his hand on to Harry's desk. I saw Harry open it and from what I could see there was some sort of cartoon drawing on the paper and knowing this side of Draco it wouldn't be good. I'd have to ask Harry about it later... Or I could ask Draco.


	21. Chapter 21

Unfortunately I didn't get to ask either about what had been on the note because the next day came before I even knew what was happening. The weather today was miserable and it poured rain, a thunderstorm coming just in time for the quidditch game. Typical.

I will always wonder why the teachers let the games go ahead on days like this, I think it's just stupid. If it's really bad weather, like today, then the quidditch game should be cancelled. Call me mean and a stick in the mud, but the risk to students is far to great for them to be flying on broomsticks in the middle of an electrical storm!

The sky was black as thick clouds blocked the sun and rain bucketed down by the gallon, insuring that no one escaped getting wet. Yet here I am in the Gryffindor stands wearing my worn out raincoat, which is full of holes, getting soaked to the bone while cheering Harry on as he zips around the sky on his Numbus 2000, hoping he doesn't break his neck. The match hadn't been going long but the competition was fierce, it was Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff and the chanting could be heard even above the noise of the storm.

'Gryffindor! Gryffindor!' Hermione, Ron and I shouted along with the rest of out house while the Hufflepuffs could be heard calling,

'Hufflepuff! Hufflepuff!'

There was high energy and as I looked over to the Slytherin spectators I could see Draco who was merely watching the match, looking disinterested in the whole affair. Though a glance in my direction and a wink told me he was secretly going for Gryffindor. I grinned, I had the feeling he'd be on my side.

Suddenly Harry flew past us and I put my hands to the sides of my mouth, shouting 'Go Harry!' Hermione and I laughed when we realised we had both done the same thing. We were Harry's miniature fan club. Hehe. Anyway, more to the point Gryffindor is currently winning which, of course, means that we are even more hyper, despite the awful weather. But the way things were going I was worried for my friend's safety.

I had good reason to be, this was insane! People were going to get killed if this didn't stop. Looking to the sky I winced as I saw another bolt of lightning flash and I saw the players having to dodge umbrella's that had escaped their owners as they blew about in the howling winds. I gasped as I saw a Hufflepuff's broom catch fire after being struck by lightning! This had to be stopped! I looked to the teacher stand and saw my father sitting there, his face looked expressionless but for some reason I could almost feel that he knew this was wrong too. I had to get the teachers to stop the match before someone was seriously hurt. I started to push my way through the crowd when I vaguely heard someone call out to me.

'Rose! Where are you going?' I turned around, it was Hermione.

'To get this madness stopped!' I shouted back, hoping she heard me over all the yelling.

Then with that I went back to trying to weave in and out of all the students who were still cheering on our house. Now don't get me wrong, I have just as much house spirit as the next girl but right now all the chanting was starting to get on my nerves. How could people be so stupid as to encourage this? The students on the teams were going to get themselves killed!

'Excuse me! Pardon me! I'm trying to get through here!' I shouted as I pushed people aside, only to have someone push me back.

'Get out of the way, we're trying to watch!' It was a Gryffindor who looked to be in fifth year. I snarled at him.

'You won't be watching for much longer when all the competitors get killed in this storm!' With that I once again shoved him and went past. When I was about halfway to the teachers stand I looked back to the game to see what was happening and gasped when I saw Harry shoot upwards into the sky, still chasing after the golden snitch. 'No..no, no no! Harry you idiot you're going to get too close to the lighting!' I slapped myself in the face, he was crazy. I looked back up just in time to see him disappear into the clouds and I silently prayed that he wouldn't get hurt during all of this.

As I continued towards the teachers I suddenly felt an extreme chill run through my body. I started trembling and as it grew worse I couldn't stop. My body heat didn't so much as drain away or leach out slowly, it abandoned me with callous speed to leave me helpless and shivering too violently to either flee or communicate. A feeling of dread washed over me and a scream echoed in my mind, I don't know who it was but as I glanced around feverishly I saw no one screaming in terror like what I thought I'd heard.

Seconds later however I looked back up and saw none other than Harry falling through the air, without his broomstick! I let out a shriek and watched in disbelief as he plummeted towards the ground. 'HARRY!' My scream pierced the air as I saw my best friend and my shaking grew worse, he was going to DIE! I heard more screams and shouts of fear then suddenly Dumbledore stood up and called out a spell, stopping Harry from hitting the ground before he became a pancake. I'm not sure what happened after that as it was all to much and I saw the world go black as I passed out.

-/-/-

 **Hey guys, how's it going? What did you think of that? Was it worth the wait? I certainly hope so!**

 **~Lexa**


	22. Chapter 22

**Hey guys how are you? Good I hope! Lexa is back! I know it's amazing I'm actually updating this twice with in a month instead of once every six months, but I was inspired to update sooner by the wonderful reviews I have received from Phoenixx Rising and Eliza1314! Thank you guys it really means a lot to see you both reviewing my story and I'm glad that you're both enjoying it!**

 **Phoenixx Rising - Thank you, it makes me happy to see that you think I did a good job on my last chapter.**

 **Eliza1314 - I must say I am incredibly surprised to hear how fast you read all three of my stories in this series up until this point, and I am impressed at how quickly you figured that little detail out, I don't know if anyone else has but just in case they haven't I won't say exactly when Rose will work out that particular mystery but I will say that it will be resolved in time for all the drama that comes with their fourth year at Hogwarts. As for any relief from the suspense well yes there will be but not for a little while yet. Don't worry to much though, I'll only string this out as long as I have to then you will get a little break before the suspense doubles later on. ;) XD I can't give away anymore details though, I've probably given too many away as it is.**

 **Well that's all for me, I hope you all like this chapter! Now go forth and read!**

-/-/-

Cold... So cold...

I slowly start to feel things in my body as I start coming back. Everything is still dark, I feel clammy and wet and I hate the feeling of it. My body feels achy and cold, every part of me hurts. Slowly I start to hear things, garbled words and sounds which make no sense. I feel like I'm underwater. My mind feels like it is covered in blankets of the fog of sleep but eventually I can make a few things out but I don't know what is really being said.

'Fever... Storm... Out...'

'Sick... Long... Better...'

It sounded like there were two people talking, who they were I didn't know. I struggled to open my eyes but the moment I did I shut them tightly again. Bright white light blinded me and no matter how much I wanted to see where I was I didn't want to have to look at that light again.

All of a sudden more sounds filled my ears... Shrieks, gasps, sounds of people who were horrified by something. Then I felt it. The scream tore through me like a great shard of glass. I felt pulse quicken, my heart thudding like a rock rattling in box and my stomach churned with fear. I could feel my blood run cold as if there was ice in my veins, imagining my skin turning blue I asked myself what was happening. It was then the memories came flooding back to me, the quidditch match. The storm. Harry!

I began to panic, my breathing became shallow and rapid, was my friend alright? Had he been hurt? What made him fall of his broom? Was it the dementors? Had they done any damage to him? Would he be ok?!

Soon though I felt something warm covering both my hands and I was jolted back into reality when I felt a gentle squeeze on my...Right hand? My eyes snapped open and I found myself staring at my father. His obsidian eyes were filled with worry but I saw them brighten when they made contact with mine.

'Rose!' He cried and embraced me, making me wince at the sudden movement. 'Thank goodness you're alright.'

'Dad.' I whispered as he gently brushed some of my hand out of my face, and he frowned as I was covered in a cold sweat. 'Where's Harry?' My father pulled back and gestured to the next bed over.

'He's just over there.'

I looked past him to where I could see my friend still sleeping, it was then I noticed that he had a crowd around him consisting of Hermione, Ron and Neville, along with Ron's older brothers Fred and George. Actually I think three quarters of the Gryffindor quidditch team must have been there.

'He looks a bit peaky, don't he?' I heard the unmistakeable voice of Ron say.

'Peaky? What do you expect? He fell over a hundred feet.' I wasn't sure which one of the twins that was.

'Yeah, come on Ron let's throw you off the astronomy tower and see what you look like.' Well that must have been the other one.

'Probably a right sight better than he normally does.' I heard the groggy voice of Harry and grinned, he was alright! The others all breathed sighs of relief but before I could hear more I felt someone tugging my left hand.

'Oh come on, you know he's ok now so can you turn your attention away from Potter for once in your life and focus it on someone better? Like me maybe?' I chuckled softly and turned my head the other way, I knew that voice anywhere.

'Draco Malfoy.' My voice was still quiet and it felt like I was rubbing the inside of my throat with sandpaper when I talked.

'In the flesh.' He grinned. 'It's good to see that you're ok Rose. You had me worried.'

'How'd you know I was here?'

'I saw the Professor carry you here.'

I looked over to my father who was still sitting on the other side of me. 'You saw me collapse?' He shook his head.

'No, I was distracted... I didn't know until everyone started to scatter and some students started shouting that you had gone unconscious.' I knew he was silently berating himself and I gave his hand a gentle squeeze. I knew he would have been watching Harry like pretty much everyone else had been at the time.

'It's ok dad, I understand. I'm not angry with you, I didn't even expect you to pass out as you can imagine... But... Can I be honest? I still feel cold.'

'Thank you.' He gave me a small smile before standing up. 'I'll go get Madam Pomfrey, she'll want to see you now that you're awake anyway.' With that he went to get the med witch.

'So how do you feel?' Draco asked.

'Fine I guess.'

'Now don't give me that, you're whiter than a sheet, your eyes are red and your voice is raspy. Is your throat sore?'

'Really?' I didn't realise I looked so bad. 'Well... Ok maybe it's a little sore, but I'm sure it's no-' I was cut off by a sneeze which sent snot flying everywhere, though Draco didn't seem to care.

'See? You're sick. Being out in that cold weather this morning was stupid, you should have stayed inside.'

'What about everyone else? The match should have been cancelled.'

'I agree.' He nodded. 'At least it's all over now.'

'Thank goodness.'

'By the way, since you're Potter's friend and all I figured that I should tell you that his broom ended up flying into the whomping willow.'

'That's awful, is it- achoo! Fixable?' I asked frowning as my nose began to run.

'From the looks of it the only thing it's good for now is wood for the fire.' The blonde Slytherin replied and handed me a tissue. I gave him a grateful smile then blew my nose into it.

'Well that stinks. What's he going to use for a broom now?'

'I don't know.' Draco shrugged, lowering his voice to a whisper. 'I almost feel sorry for him. Of course if you tell anyone I said that I'll deny it.'

'Yeah I know.' I chuckled, wincing as it hurt my throat.

Minutes later Madam Pomfrey walked over with my dad in toe. She smiled at me as she came to stand at the side of my bed. "Hello Rose, it's good to see you're awake now. How are you feeling?'

'Be honest.' Draco shot me a glare and I sighed softly.

'Everything hurts, I feel cold, my nose keeps running and my throat's sore.' I explained.

'I see... Where you feeling unwell at all before today?'

Draco once again gave me a look, silently telling me to tell them everything so I nodded. 'Yes, I started having headaches a few days ago and I've been more tired lately.'

'Ah ha... Well I think you have the flu Miss Snape. Being out in that storm today must have aggravated it, though I wouldn't have thought it would speed it up so much.' She frowned then shook her head. 'I'll give you some pepperup potion to take and that should help.'

'Thank you.' I croaked, all the talking was making my throat hurt more and I swallowed some of my saliva to try and take the edge off it, but the inside of my throat still felt raw.

'You're welcome.' She replied then went to get the potion.

'I'll be back in a second, alright?' Draco said, giving my hand a soft squeeze before getting up and going over to talk to my father. Unfortunately I didn't get to hear what they were saying over the noise of Hermione, Ron and the twins coming to say hello to me.

They all seemed happy that I was alright, though I did notice a few exchanges of worried glances between them as they looked at me. It made me wonder just how I appeared to them, was I really as pale as Draco had said? I mean I've always been more pale than most people but still... I hoped I'd get back to normal soon.

After I had the pepperup potion Madam Pomfrey decided to keep Harry and I in the hospital wing over night for observation. Not long after that everyone had been sent out and soon it was just Harry and myself left to chat quietly.

'Harry I swear if you ever again do anything like what you did today I will kill you myself, you almost gave me a heart attack!' I hissed at him angrily.

'I'm sorry Rose, but I thought if I could get the snitch then not only would we win but the game would be over sooner.'

'Ugh. You shouldn't have gone so high, you knew that there are dementors crawling all over this place now.'

'I know and I'm sorry to have worried you, really I am.'

'It's ok. It's just when I saw you fall...' I shuddered at the thought. 'I thought we'd lose you.'

'You didn't though. I'm still here and alive. Besides nothing can kill me, I'm the Boy Who Lived, remember?' He smirked and I just rolled my eyes before I was thrown into a coughing fit. 'You ok?'

The cough sounded loose and wet, like thick phlemy mucus was sliding up and down my throat with each violent expulsion of air. Once it calmed down I nodded, trying to get my breathing back to normal. 'I'm fine.'

'No you're not. Do you want me to call Madam Pomfrey?'

'No, I'm ok.' I shook my head even though I felt ill. Harry was sweet to worry about me but I didn't want him to feel like there was anything really wrong with me. I would get over this thing, after all Madam Pomfrey had just said it was the flu so I'd be good in a few days. Right? 'How are you doing now though?' I asked, trying to distract myself from my pounding headache and everything else that was making me feel sick.

'I feel ok, better than I was earlier.'

'That's good then.' I gave him a small smile.

We continued to talk for a few hours, falling into comfortable silences every once in a while until the sun had gone down and it was dark outside. By then we were both having trouble keeping our eyes open. Harry gave a loud yawn and I looked back over at him.

'Tired?'

'Yeah.' He nodded.

'Me too. Night Harry.'

'Night Rose.'

With that I rolled over onto my other side and allowed myself to drift off into the bliss of sleep.


	23. Chapter 23

**Hey again! New chapter whoo! Ok so I have to ask you guys, how did you know about the fourth child? Was it really obvious? I don't mind if you say yes I just want to know so that i can improve on keeping secrets next time. XD. So please let me know either in a review or PM me and tell me how you figured it out! Until then I hope you like this chapter!**

-/-/-

Throughout the night I managed to get a few hours sleep in between waking up from coughing fits and nightmares about Harry almost falling to his death. Those two things seemed to occur every couple of hours, but hey I've been through worse. The good thing was that despite the noises I made, especially when coughing, I didn't wake Harry. I was glad about that since he needed his sleep, I did too, but right now he was more important to me than my own wellbeing. He was one of my best friends after all.

By morning I was just about ready to run out of the Hospital Wing and go find my father, I wanted to talk to him before I went to class. Unfortunately I got caught while I was trying to sneak out of the room to go find him.

'Just where do you think you are going young lady?' Madam Pomfrey asked as she appeared behind me, causing me to jump.

'Um... To see Professor Snape.' I turned and looked at her, hoping that she would allow me to go. However my heart dropped when she shook her head and pointed at the cot I had been in before.

'Oh no you don't. You are going back to bed Miss Snape, and you are not leaving this hospital until I dismiss you. Is that understood?'

'Yes ma'am.' I sighed and slowly trudged back to bed.

I didn't want to be here, I don't know why I just didn't. I felt ok, minus the sore throat and a headache, so why couldn't I be dismissed early? I just didn't get it, why did she want me to stay? Was it because she wanted me to leave with Harry to make sure that he had someone with him or was there another reason? Who knows, I'll find out eventually I guess.

Once I was back in bed I stared at the ceiling for...Well I don't really know how long, but I soon went back off to sleep anyway.

The next time I woke it was due to a tickle on my nose, I grumbled, still half asleep, and swatted whatever was tickling my nose away with my hand. Starting to go back to sleep once more I was soon disturbed again by the tickle, so I reached up and scratched my nose only to have the tickle move to my cheek. I growled and opened my eyes to see what it was.

Sitting beside my bed with a feather was Draco Luscious Malfoy.

'Draco!' I hissed.

'Good morning to you too Rose, how are you today?' He asked, flashing me one of his cheeky grins.

'I'd be better if I didn't have a crazed Slytherin waking me up.' I growled.

'I'm not crazed. I'm just unique.' He smirked.

'Mhm, that's what they all say.' I poked my tongue out at him and he ruffled my hair. 'So why are you here then?'

'Well let's put it this way, I didn't come to see Potter.' He chuckled softly. 'I wanted to see how you were of course. So how do you feel?'

'Fine.' I shrugged.

'Your bloodshot eyes say otherwise.' He frowned. 'Now tell me the truth.'

'That is the truth.'

'Rose.' He warned and I sighed.

'Alright so I have a bit of a sore throat and I coughed a bit last night, it's nothing horrible.' I rolled my eyes, ignoring his worried expression.

'You need to rest then, take a day to rest.'

'I can't do that, we have class. I can't miss out on DADA, it's one of my favourite subjects, you know that.'

'But you're sick.' He protested.

'At the most I have a head cold, it will be gone by tomorrow.'

'What if it turns out to be more than that? You could make yourself worse by working.'

'Oh Draco, that's stupid. This is no-' I launched into a fit of coughs, my body lurching somewhat violently.

'That's it, you're not going to classes today.' The boy announced when I was able to calm my breathing down.

'Oh and just how are you going to stop me?' I rasped.

'I'll get your father to make you stay out of class.'

'You can't do that.'

'He might not be able to, but I certainly can.' My gaze snapped over to see Snape standing at the end of my bed, making me jump. Apparently I had been so busy arguing with Draco that I didn't hear him come in.

'Father.' I frowned. 'Don't tell me you think I should spend all day here too.'

'No, I don't.' He shook his head and I had been about to breathe a sigh of relief when he continued. 'I think you should rest today...in my quarters.'

'What? Why in your chambers?'

'Because that way I can keep an eye on you while I'm not teaching and have the house elves drop in to check on you while I am.'

'Ugh. Honestly I'm not a child, I don't need to be coddled! I am perfectly fine and I will go to class!' I snapped.

The others that were in the Hospital Wing turned to look at the three of us as we bickered, but we didn't pay them any mind. If they were smart they would mind their own business and not get involved.

'You are still a child and while you may not need to be coddled it is my duty to make sure that you are well, so I will decide whether or not you will attend classes and I say you will take today off. Do you understand?' He narrowed his eyes at me and I could hear the "over protective parent" and "stern teacher" in his tone. When he got like that I knew better than to keep arguing with him.

'Fine. I relented. I will stay in your quarters then.' I sighed and rolled my eyes.

'Good.' My father gave me a small smile only for it to disappear a split second later.

'So can I get out of here now?'

'And leave without saying goodbye?' I heard Harry ask with a yawn.

'Harry.' I grinned and slid out of the bed to go over and hug him. 'I was hoping you'd wake up soon.'

'So you could leave without feeling so guilty?' He asked raising a brow.

'Sort of.' I gave him a sheepish smile.

'Big meanie.' He pretended to pout.

'I'm sorry.'

'It's ok, I heard the argument. In fact I don't think there's a single person on this floor who didn't.' He chuckled, his green eyes holding amusement.

'You're probably right.' I nodded as I blew some of my ink coloured hair out of my face.

'Well you'd better get going, your dad is staring at us.'

I turned to look over my shoulder to see my father smirking at the two of us. 'Alright.' I turned my attention back to Harry and embraced him once more. 'Last hug. I'll see you tomorrow, ok?'

'Hehe, yeah, see you tomorrow Rose.' He smiled.

'Bye Harry.' I pulled away to stand next to Snape. 'Let's go.'

'Alright.' He nodded.

'Mind if I tag along?' Draco asked, standing.

'Very well.' Dad nodded and I couldn't help noticing the smile on the blonde boy's face.

'Thanks sir.'

Dad mumbled a "you're welcome" and once we had clearance from Madam Pomfrey we were out of the Hospital Wing and on our way to my father's room. Boy was I glad to be out of there, something about that place just didn't agree with me.

Now I just had to handle a whole day with nothing to do except stare at the ceiling. This was not going to be fun.


	24. New Title?

**Hey guys how's it going? I know this is a bit weird, but I've been thinking of changing the title of this series for awhile now and I wanted to get your thoughts on it. I thought maybe something like A Hogwarts Rose, The Story of a Rose or Rose's Tale? Suggestions are very much appreciated so let me hear them! Well that's all for now until the next chapter, I hope you all have a great day!**

 **~ Lexa**


	25. Chapter 24

So the three of us walked down to the dungeons and into my father's quarters. I couldn't help but smile as we entered and I looked around to see the familiar green, black and silver furnishings of my dad's room. Despite my earlier protests I couldn't help being glad to have come back, something about this place almost made me feel as if I was at home again.

Igniting a fire in the fireplace, dad led me into one of the rooms that came off from the living/dining room area where I was shown a spare bedroom with what looked like a king single sized bed. The paint on the walls was a slightly lighter green than the rest of his quarters and I smiled as I saw a teddy bear on the bed wearing a red jumper with a lion on it.

'The bear's a nice touch.' I looked at my father and for a moment I could have sworn I saw him blush slightly, however when I blinked and looked again it was gone.

'I thought you might like it.' He smiled down at me before turning and going to sit on the leather couch. 'Now go and get yourself settled in, I'll be here for awhile until I have a class to teach.'

I nodded then went into the room with Draco right behind me. 'I never knew this was here, then again I haven't been in here often.' He said as he looked around. 'Seems like he knows you pretty well though.'

'We've learned a lot about each other over the last year, but in all honesty I still think you know him a little better than I do.' I replied softly, keeping my voice down so dad didn't hear my admission. I didn't want to make him feel bad about it or anything, but we still had a lot to learn about each other.

'Maybe I do, but that's only because I've known him longer. Don't worry Rose, you two will become closer as you spend more time together. I mean you've known each other, properly, for a year now and look how far you've come. You actually call him dad sometimes now, that's great!' He smiled which of course made me smile back at him.

'You're right.'

'Well of course I am, I'm a Malfoy after all.' The boy smirked while I just rolled my eyes and nudged him playfully.

'Sure, sure. You Malfoy's are always right, or so you guys say.'

'Yep.' He grinned and nodded.

'Speaking of family, I haven't received any letters from Julia or Gavin.'

'School hasn't been back _that_ long, given them some time.'

'How much time? We've been back for a few months and I've heard nothing from them. Then again, I guess they're both busy with things...' I sighed and frowned, running a hand through my hair.

'They'll write to you some time, I know they will... Or maybe you could write to them?'

My eyes widened at his suggestion and I grinned. 'Now why didn't I think of that? Draco you're a genius!'

'Well duh.' He flashed me that cocky smirked I gave him a playful shove. 'Ouch! Big meanie.'

'Oh come on, it wasn't that hard.'

'Says you.'

'Well if it was then I can't be that sick, can I?' I raised a brow.

'Fair point.' He chuckled and we smiled at each other for a moment before I burst into another coughing fit. My throat was tight and sore as I forced out air from my lungs, struggling to suck in back in between the bouts. 'That's it, you get changed into something more comfortable then get into bed. Alright?'

'Fine.' I rasped once I was able to get my breath back. 'Go wait outside. I don't think that dad would appreciate you being in here while I'm changing.'

'Yeah, he'd probably kill me. Besides, I wouldn't want to hang around anyway.' He pulled a face and shook his head, making me laugh.

'Then get out already!' I pushed him towards the door until he got the hint and left.

Once he was outside I shut the door and got changed into a pair of warm snuggly pyjamas, my favourites actually. They were blue with cats on them, and they actually move! I liked to watch them as they run and tumble down my pant legs and sleeves. Just as I was reopening the door I went into another bout of coughs, sounding as though I was going to throw my very lungs out of my chest.

I saw my father rush to get over to me and he quickly helped me get into bed, summoning a glass of water to give to me once the coughs had died down. 'Just sip it.' He instructed as he put the glass into my shaking hand and helped me steady it, while one of his hands rested gently on my back. With his assistance I was able to swallow a little of the water, though the movement of swallowing hurt my throat a little it also eased the itch that had been occurring at the back of my throat.

'Thanks.' I whispered softly and offered him a weak smile.

'It's ok.' He murmured in reply. 'You know, I think I might have the rest of the day off to make sure you're alright.'

'You don't have to-'

'I know, but I _want_ to.' Now it was his turn to smile at me.

'Thank you dad.'

'You're welcome. Now, I'll get you a few extra pillows to prop you up a bit higher and you can try to get some sleep, ok?'

'Ok.' I nodded. 'But dad, what about Draco?'

'He has to go off to class soon anyway, so I'll let him come say goodbye.'

'Oh...' I frowned. I enjoyed having him around, he was fun to hang out with, but I didn't want him to get into trouble because of me. He still had to go to school. 'Alright.'

So my father got up and went outside to talk to Draco. I couldn't hear what they said, but soon the blonde Slytherin walked in and sat down carefully on the side of my bed.

'He said you wanted me to say goodbye before I left.'

'Yeah...'

'You know I'll come back to see you at lunch time, right?'

'You will?'

'Yeah, of course I will!' He beamed. 'And I'll be back after classes finish and I might even bring you back some dessert after dinner!'

'Aw, you're too nice.' I grinned happily, though he shook his head.

'Anything for you.'

For a moment I thought I could see something in his eyes, something that made me feel like he really would do anything for me, but that couldn't be right. Could it?

'Thanks.' I smiled, feeling my face heat up a little.

'Well I think I'd better be going then... Make sure you rest up and try to get better, alright?'

'Yes sir.' We grinned at each other and he chuckled, reaching out to ruffle my hair a little.

'Good, I'll see you at lunch then. Bye!' He got up and went to the door, pausing to wave back at me.

'Bye!' I smiled before he disappeared.

Maybe this day wasn't going to really be so bad afterwards.

Not long after that dad came back in to remind me that I needed to get some sleep so that I could recover faster.

'Is there anything you want before I close your curtains and let you get some rest?' He asked, looking down at me.

'Um... Could I have a hug?'

'Of course you can.' He smiled and bent down to put his arms around me while I reached up to hug him back.

'Will you stay with me?'

'Do you want me to?'

'Yes please.' I whispered.

'Ok then. I will stay. Just let me go get a chair-'

'No. I want you to stay here.' I moved over and patted the bed.

'Oh...Well alright.' He looked at me in surprise, but nodded all the same. He slowly stood back up and closed my curtains so the room was darker before carefully climbing into my bed. Smiling I snuggled into him as he rested his head alongside mine on my pillows.

'Thank you.'

'You're very welcome. Now close your eyes and think good thoughts so you'll have good dreams.' I did as he asked, and smiled softly.

'Love you.'

'I love you more.' He whispered and kissed my forehead before I fell asleep.

My father and I spent a lot of time together that day, with him just taking care of me. We cuddled in my bed and he helped me get to sleep a few times, comforting me and helping keep my calm when I woke up and starting coughing and barking. He also got me tissues for my runny nose and made me warm drinks to help soothe my throat. So we had a lazy day. Or at least I did. Dad was great, he took good care of me and kept reminding me just how much he loves me.

Draco came back to visit several times, just like he promised. Each time bringing new stories of what he had been up to throughout the day and all of the mischief he had caused. So listening to that while I ate the piece of cherry pie he had bought me was entertaining.

All in all it was a good day, despite my sickness. Maybe tomorrow will be even better and with any luck my illness will have passed...or at least I hope so.


	26. Chapter 25

Fortunately the sickness didn't last much longer, I ended up having another two days off, making it a total of three days with no classes, before returning to normal. Thankfully dad didn't make me try and catch up on the homework he'd assigned to the rest of the class while I'd been sick, so instead he gave me an alternative task. I was to create a confusing concoction. Now dad had told me that this potion wasn't supposed to be taught to us until much later in the year, but he thought that I could handle it.

I was probably prouder than I should have been because of his faith in me...which was no doubt why I decided to get started on it right away so that I could prove him right. In the end I was able to brew the draught, but not without spilling a little here and there on the counter top. He didn't seem to mind and allowed me to pass and even gain a little extra credit...after I cleaned up.

So that went well and after that everything was business as usual. I attended all of my classes and hung out with Harry, Hermione and Ron during lunches, while going to sit with Draco beneath the willow tree after school. On this day I had done both and I was now in the process of writing a letter to my sister, having just finished one to my brother.

 _Dear Julia,_

 _I know you've probably been busy, but I've been waiting to hear from you for ages and you haven't written me a single letter. Is everything alright? I hope so... Anyway, I thought you might like to know how things are going here and I am happy to say that things are going well. I was sick a few days ago, but I'm happy to say I'm better now. Oh! I'm supposed to say hi from Draco. He wanted me to say hello from him when I told him that I was going to write to you, he seemed very excited for me since I've never written a letter to you before._

 _Hey, I meant to ask, did you find out anything more on that book we found in the library at home? I know that I'm the one who's supposed to be looking for it, but I haven't really found anything... Maybe what happened that day was just a fluke, I mean I haven't had any more issues with it since I've been here at school... I don't know though, my gut is telling me that it could be more. I guess we'll just have to wait and find out. I might even ask our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher if he's ever heard of such things._

 _Speaking of Dark Arts... I don't know if you've heard or not, but the school now has dementors guarding it and it's making me worried. I haven't been doing anything stupid to get them to attack me or anything like that, but... I don't know, they put me on edge. They've attacked Harry twice and that has made me really scared for him. I don't know why they dislike him so much but I don't want him getting hurt. I don't want you to worry about me though, I can handle myself, and Harry and I were thinking of asking our teacher if he can help us repel them using some sort of spell._

 _So that's really everything that's happening at the moment. I look forward to seeing your reply sis, and I hope you write back soon._

 _Missing you heaps,_

 _Love Rose._

So that was that done. Putting both letters into envelopes I got up and headed out to go to the owlery. Before I left the common room, however, I ran into someone whom I knew had an owl that I might be able to borrow to deliver the letters.

'Hey Harry.' I smiled at my friend.

'Oh hey Rose, what have you been up to?' Harry asked.

'I just wrote some letters to my brother and sister.'

'Cool, did you tell them all about how amazing your best friend is?'

'Haha, yeah I wrote a little about you.' I chuckled.

'Yay!' He grinned at me.

'Hey could I borrow Hedwig to send one of these letters to my sister?' I asked, hoping that he would say yes.

'Well... I don't know...' Harry paused for a moment to think before offering me a smile as he nodded. 'On second thought, sure. I don't see why not.' He shrugged.

'Thanks Harry!' I beamed and hugged him tightly.

'Oh hey, no problem.' He hugged me back and we snuggled for a moment before I pulled back and handed him the letter.

'I'm assuming I can trust you to give the letter to Hedwig without reading it first?'

'Of course you can, you know I wouldn't invade your privacy like that.'

'Yeah I know, thanks a bunch.' I smiled before heading to the portrait hole. 'Now I just have to find an owl to take my other letter to my brother.'

'You're welcome, and have fun with that. I'll see you later.' My friend nodded before I headed out and walked down to the owlery.

The walk was long as silent as I didn't stop to talk to any of the other students as that I went past on the way. It was only when I was outside that I paused to enjoy the crisp clean air. It was refreshing to be out of the castle for a little while as I strolled across the grounds to the old owlery. My nose wrinkled as I entered, the smell of birds, feathers and excrement hitting my nose the second I stepped into the room. Disgusting, but that was to be expected in the lodging of so many birds. However, getting my letter sent to my brother would make up for the unpleasant smell.

So, ignoring the odor, I went over to one of the birds who was perched in their roost and gave it's head a gentle pat. 'Hello little one, would you be able to do me a favour?' The owl hooted softly at me and it's eyes seemed to twinkle, smiling I took that as a yes. 'I need you to deliver a letter to Durmstrang Institute and give it to my brother Gavin. It's all here on the letter, see?' I showed him the letter before carefully tying it to his leg. 'Be a good birdy and take the letter there for me.' The owl hooted and seemed to give a nod before taking off as I stepped back. Smiling to myself I watched it take off out the window. All that was left to do then was to wait for Gavin to reply.

With that in mind I headed back towards the castle, that was, until I got sidetracked. Taking a little detour from my previous course I went to the weeping willow tree where Draco and I often hung out... Which reminded me that we hadn't been here together for quite awhile, since before the quidditch game where I got sick. I missed sitting out here, just talking and messing around with the Slytherin, it was fun. Especially when we were able to be so honest with each other and I didn't have to watch Draco go around with the charade that he was some muggle-born hating spoilt brat. Instead I got to see the fun, and rather charming, side of the boy that was Draco Malfoy.

I had thought of going to look for him, but without having any idea of where he might be it would be crazy to try and find him. The castle was huge and it would most likely take all day, so what was the point? It wouldn't be easy and I didn't need to spend the afternoon looking around for him when I could stay here and relax for a little while. I lied down on the ground beneath the tree and stared up into its branches. A gentle breeze blew and I watched as the leaves moved with it, almost like an angels breath, soft and sweet, as it made the leaves perform their own little dance as they hung down from the branches. Thankfully the breeze wasn't enough to make the temperature drop too much, instead it was more like it was there just for the soul purpose of providing me with a relaxing atmosphere. Though I doubted that was why it had started. The world didn't revolve around me after all.

Folding my arms up behind my head I closed my eyes and let out a soft sigh, allowing all the thought's I'd had to slip away. Slowly, coloured spots began to appear in the darkness behind my eyelids and in a few moments I had begun to picture them as fairies or sprites, easily imagining them flittering in the tree above me. I don't know why, but it was just the image that came to me. Tiny little winged creatures flying and fluttering around amongst the branches of the tree above my head, their little voices like the tinkling sound of chimes clinking together on a summers day when the wind blows softly. Not unlike it was doing that day.

Part of me wanted to open my eyes to see if the little creatures really were there, but some part of me that had remained rational knew that I would just be disappointed when I found none. So I kept my eyes closed and continued to imagine this secret fantasy land.

At some point I must have fallen asleep and started dreaming because the fairies that I had been picturing had slowly combined to become a fiery ball. It was like a plume of fire exploded into the blackness, the flame rolling outwards like the smoke of a mushroom cloud, dangerous and frightening... Yet strangely beautiful and alluring. The way that the fire lashed out, licking at the darkness that surrounded it while the grey plumes grew and spread, floating upwards.

It became like a whirlwind of heat, embers from the fire floating through the air while the edges of the darkness seemed to crack and fall to the floor as though they were turning to ashes. I didn't understand what was happening, but I couldn't stop watching it. It became an overload on my senses, I could feel the heat on my skin, smell and taste the smoke. It was unbelievable, I honestly thought I was standing in front of a raging fire. Creeping forward I tried to get closer, and peering through the haze I saw... Me?

'Rose? Rose? Come on sleepy head wake up!'

A familiar voice and a gentle shake woke me. After struggling to open my eyes I looked around blearily until I saw who had found me in my little hide away.

'Draco? Why am I not surprised? How did you find me?'

'I heard you snoring and decided to say hi.' The blonde boy smirked as I sat up. He was kneeling beside me with his hand still on my shoulder from when he hand been shaking me just moments ago.

'I snored? Yeah right, I don't snore.' I shook my head with a laugh.

'Do so.'

'Do not.'

'Do so.' He nodded and gently poked me in the ribs. 'I heard it with my own two ears.'

'Yeah right and how do I know you're not telling fibs.'

'I would never lie to you, Rose.' Draco awarded me a gentle smile which I couldn't help returning. I hoped that he would never change that. So long as he didn't lie to me then I wouldn't lie to him... Even if he did tell me an untruth I don't think I could do that to him, not when he's been such a good friend to me.

'Thank you... I still didn't snore though.'

He gave an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes and me while I smirked, before we both grinned at each other and went into fits of laughter together.


	27. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, even though I wish I did.**

-/-/-

'So what were you dreaming about, Rose?' Draco inquired all too casually.

'Dreaming?' I asked, raising a brow as if to challenge his question and keep him guessing as to whether or not I had been dreaming.

'Well yeah, that's what I asked.' He smirked, refusing to doubt his beliefs.

'Who says I was?'

'I do.'

'And you know that how?'

'I just know.' He smirked.

'Oh ok then, I won't bother asking you where you get your mystical all powerful knowledge from then, instead I will just tell you that I had a dream... About...' My brow slowly creased into a frown as flashes and snippets of the dream appeared in my mind. 'What was it about?' I asked softly.

'You don't remember?' I could hear the small amount of concern in Draco's voice and saw him frown as I shook my head. 'That's... A little weird... Then again maybe it's not, I mean it's not that uncommon for people to not remember their dreams after they wake up. Especially if it was a bad one... Did you have a nightmare?'

'I don't think so... It didn't seem bad... There was a lot of fire though... That's the biggest thing I remember. I don't know why it was there or how it started, I just know that there was fire involved.'

'Well that is kinda weird... I wonder why you'd dream about that.'

'I don't know... But I want to find out.'

'And just how do you plan on doing that? Come on Rose it was just a dream, we all have strange dreams sometimes. I'm sure that it's nothing to worry about. What concerns me more is why you were napping in the middle of the afternoon, I haven't known you to do that.' He frowned, gently poking my arm.

'I was tired, ok? Anyway, It doesn't really matter, we have better things to do.'

'You mean like discuss that stinking essay that we have to write for Defence Against the Dark Arts?'

'Exactly.' I nodded and chuckled.

We talked about the homework that we'd been set and whinged about the professors, though we soon discovered that we rather liked Professor Lupin which surprised me. I mean obviously I knew I liked him, but after the way Draco sometimes behaved in his class I didn't think he did. Then again if Draco Malfoy has taught me one thing it's to never judge a book by it's cover, but he taught me that a long time ago like when he came over to father's house for the first time and properly introduced me to his parents. They weren't at all like I had expected them to be. Which reminded me, I hadn't asked about them yet.

'So hey, how are your mum and dad doing?' I asked after we'd gone quiet for a moment.

'They're doing well, why do you ask?'

'I was just wondering.' I shrugged.

'Oh ok then.' He nodded.

'What about you and your dad? How are things there?'

'Things are good.' I smiled. 'We've been hanging out sometimes after school and I've been learning some extra potions that he hasn't taught the class yet.'

'Cool, that sounds fun, maybe one afternoon you could ask him to let me in on your private lessons?' He asked, and I nodded in agreement.

'Yeah sure, I'm positive that he'd say yes.'

'Awesome.' He beamed, making me chuckle.

'I'm glad you're into this.. I'll ask my dad this afternoon or this evening.'

'How could I not be into it? I get to do some advanced potion making and spend time with my best friend.'

'You're best friend? And who would that be?' I asked smirking.

He chuckled and I noticed a light blush appear on his cheeks. 'Well that would be you of course! Come on Rose, you know you're my best friend.'

'Do I know that? Really?' I asked rhetorically before nodding. 'Yes I know that. You're my best friend too... Along with-'

'Let me guess, Potter, Granger and Weasley.' He huffed and rolled his eyes.

'Yeah... Well I'm sorry Draco, but they're my friends too.'

'I know.' He nodded then reached over to pull me into a hug, much to my surprise. 'And I still like you, even if you hang out with those weirdos too.'

'Thanks.' I giggled and hugged him back.

We chatted for awhile after that and hung around under the tree until the temperature started to drop and the air around us grew cool.

'I think that now would be a good time to head back inside the castle.' Draco suggested.

I nodded in agreement. 'Yeah, let's go.'

So we did, we went back inside and said goodbye as we went our seperate ways, I headed to the Gryffindor common room while Draco went down to the Slytherin common room in the dungeons. We had promised to sit near each other at dinner but until then I wanted to hangout with Harry and the others. When I got to the common room, however, my plans changed. Harry came over to me holding two letters.

'Hey Rose, it looks like your brother and sister answered your letters.' He smiled and handed them over to me.

'Great! Thanks Harry.' I smiled back then went up to the dorm to read them.

I opened Gavin's letter first and quickly read through it.

 _Dear Rose,_

 _I'm so sorry for not sending you a letter sooner, but I've had a mountain of homework to try and get through! You'll probably be having the same problems by now I imagine hehe, but anyway thank you for taking the time to write me a letter. I've really been missing you since holidays ended, it's hard being so far away from you, dad and Julia. That reminds me though, would you say hello to dad for me? I'd really appreciate it if you would._

I nodded to myself and made a mental note to do just that.

 _Anyway, I'm glad to hear that you're better after being sick for those few days. I wish I'd been there so that I could have cheered you up while you were down, but at least dad was able to take care of you. I think he would have liked being able to spend a little time with you instead of teaching all of his classes. I know how much those kids annoy him, no offence to your classmates._

 _But the biggest thing that has me worried from your letter is the dementors. I've only ever heard about them, never seen them or anything. After what the professors told us in class I wouldn't want to see them, they sound awful! I'm relieved to know that you haven't been affected by them, though that fainting spell has me curious... It seems a bit odd that you passed out just as Harry did... It doesn't matter though, it was probably just because you were sick. That reminds me, I'm glad you're feeling better now. I probably should have said that sooner, but hey I'm not the best at writing letters. I'd rather see you in person, but oh well, looks like this is the best we can do until next holidays._

 _All the same I think that your idea to ask your professor for help is very wise and I hope that he is able to teach you a way to repel these nasty creatures. Whatever happens though please be safe... I don't want you getting hurt by these things, so just watch out for them._

I fully intended to do that anyway, I wasn't about to let myself get attacked by those things.

 _On a lighter note do say hello to your friends for me please, you know I hope I get to meet them one day, it would be great fun I think. Although your friend Ronald does seem a little um... Well I don't really know how to describe him without sounding mean so maybe I'll just say strange... I hope that isn't too bad of a word by your standards. Hehe no offence._

 _You know I'm starting to feel like this is dragging on a bit so I'll end my letter here. Don't feel like you need to reply straight away though, Rose, it will probably be late by the time this gets to you so feel free to put it aside and answer it some other time. Just don't wait too long, eh? Heh well I miss you sister and I can't wait to see you again. So um... Have fun at school and I'll try to write again soon._

 _Love Gavin._

Smiling I placed the letter to one side. Of course I wanted to answer it as soon as I could but he had been right in assuming that it would be late when the letter arrived and now soon it would be time for dinner.. So I chose to leave answering the letter until tomorrow and instead decided to read the letter from my sister.

 _Dear Rose,_

 _I apologise for not writing to you and I don't have an excuse so I will just say I'm sorry and hope that you aren't too upset with me._

 _Moving on, I'm glad to hear that Draco was so excited for you to be writing to me, and probably Gavin too I imagine, say hello to him in return for me would you? Oh and tell him that I hope he's taking good care of you._

I rolled my eyes, of course she would want him to take care of me.

 _Speaking of taking care of you how are you now? I know that you said you were feeling better, but I can't help wanting to make sure. Are you really ok now? Don't lie to me and tell me you are if you're still sick because I'll ask dad and he will tell me, so just tell me the truth ok? Oh I don't know why I'm so worried, you wouldn't lie to me anyway, right? Of course not._

 _Continuing on in answering your letter I regret to say that I haven't really found anything more than what we discovered at home. Somehow I had the feeling you'd get around to asking me about it at some point and I tried to be proactive but it didn't really work as I didn't find much. Or actually anything... Whatever this power of four thing is it's not common knowledge, obviously, and I can't see anything about it in any of the books we have here. I know it's only been a few hours since you wrote the letter to me but are you sure that nothing else has happened to do with this fire thing? Anything at all? I feel like something else should have happened while you've been at school if it this is something to worry about.._ _Then again I could be wrong._

 _What's all this about dementors? I've read about them when we were studying them for class a few years ago, they're horrible beasts who suck the happy memories out of people.. Is Harry alright? It would have been hard for him to be attacked both those times, and he needs to be careful, those things don't stop until the person is left with only their worst memories. So make sure you tell Harry to be on guard for them... But I'm sure everything will be alright, there's no need to panic about any of it. However by the same token I'm always going to worry about you, Rose, it comes with the territory of being your big sister._

 _How did you go with your teacher anyway? I realise that it's a bit soon to be asking but I figure that by the time you reply to this letter that you will have had sufficient time to ask your teacher about getting his help.. Or you will have decided not to. I recommend that you do though, it sounds like a good idea to me._ _Of course it's your decision though, I won't force you to ask him if you don't want to._

 _Well I guess that's about it for now, I'll let you get on with whatever you were going to do before my letter arrived. Just remember I love you! Hope to hear from you again soon Rose and remember to keep studying!_

 _Love Julia._

Sighing I moved to put her letter back into the envelope that it was delivered in before doing the same to the one from Gavin. Just reading these letters reminded me of how much I missed having my siblings around. I mean don't get me wrong, all of my school friends are great, but after spending all of last summer with my brother and sister I couldn't help missing them. Especially now that I can only get letters from them.

Unfortunately though there wasn't much I could do at that point and it was getting late. Dinner would be about to start soon, so I got up and headed back down to the great hall where others were already filing in through the doors and going to sit at the house tables. Glancing around at all the faces there I tried to spot my Gryffindor friends, but to my surprise I didn't see them there yet. I had at least thought that Ron would already be there, but apparently not. When I tried to see if Draco was there I couldn't find him either.. Maybe I was just a bit early for a change. Yeah that had to be it, there weren't really that many of us there so the others would be along a little later..

Deciding not to think about it I went to sit over on the Gryffindor table and made sure that I was sitting on the side closest to the Slytherin table in the hopes that Draco would do the same when he arrived so that we could chat sometimes during dinner. Which was exactly what happened when the others finally got there!

I told them a little about the letters I'd received and Harry and I talked about when we were going to go see Professor Lupin about getting help with the dementor situation, which we decided we would do as soon as possible. The rest of dinner went pretty smoothly which was nice and once it was done I headed back to the common room to chill with my friends.

 _Life is good._

-/-/-

 **Hey guys I hope you liked this chapter! I know it's a bit random and stuff but I thought that it was about time that Rose got some letters from her siblings because they did promise they would write to each other and here they are! So let me know if you liked this or if you didn't then let me know what you'd rather see! Well I guess that's all for now, see ya later!**

 **~ Lexa**


	28. Chapter 27

It was during our next Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons that Harry and I decided that we were ready to ask Professor Lupin if he would be willing to help us, Harry in particular, fight off the dementors. However there were a few hiccups in our little plan.

When we first arrived at the classroom we were early, due to my insistence, so we could get our favourite seats before the rest of the class arrived. It was then that we noticed our professor didn't seem to be around.

'You think he's here today?' Ron asked, looking at Harry who shrugged.

'I'd say so, otherwise the door wouldn't be open yet.' I replied as I laid my books out on my desk. 'He's probably up there in his office.' I pointed to the office at the top of the stairs at the front of the classroom.

'Or he could be running late.' Harry suggested. Ron and I nodded in agreement.

'But you know it makes me wonder where Mione is.' Her absence was strange. 'Normally she's early to everything.'

'Yeah, it's weird, and have you noticed that she just seems to be showing up in the room without any of us seeing her come in? It's just not normal... Then again she's never really been normal.' Ron smirked.

'Ronald!' I snapped and glared at him. 'That's not very nice, now be quiet before someone else hears you.'

'But it's true!' He insisted.

'Shut up.' I hissed back before turning to look over at the blackboard as I chose to ignore him.

I sighed and tapped my nails on my desk as I grew bored, where was everyone else? Not long after she thought that, however, the sound of voices in the hall told me that they were just starting to arrive now and she glanced over her shoulder to see them start filing in through the door.

The students spread out among the classroom, each taking their seats as they waited for the professor One Slytherin student in particular that was seated on the end of a row, had his wand out and was discreetly sending spells at the other students. He caused a couple different school bags to slide away from their respective owners while they weren't looking, hiding his wand and smirking when they turned to find them out of place.

I smirked at first as I watched the others students look around confused, it was funny to see them try and work out where their bag had gone, but I frowned a little as I watched some of them appear to get upset by the prank as they went to pick up their bag and moved it closer to where they were sitting. But it was just a harmless prank right? They'd get over it...

As some of the students got up to grab their bags, the Slytherin started moving the objects on the vacated desks. He lowered the objects onto the adjacent tables without being spotted, and laughing quietly when the owners came back and accused the unsuspecting neighbors of taking the objects.

I heard the squabbling and looked over at the other kids, giving a soft giggle when I realised what had happened. I was just glad that I wasn't being pulled into the prank, not that it would matter if I was, I knew who was behind it. That gave me an advantage over the others...and a chance to get the boy back. Slipping my wand out of my pocket I waved it from beneath the table sending a spell over at the boy to make his ink pot disappear from his desk.

I shook my head, what a weirdo. Who was he anyway? It didn't really matter I suppose. When I saw him start looking around I knew that he'd noticed his missing ink pot and I couldn't help chuckling as it reappeared on the professor's desk. Maybe now he'd see why the others he'd been pranking were frustrated.

The boy kept looking around until he heard my laughter and turned, looking at me before following my line of sight to the ink now at the front of the room. He glanced between me and the ink pot a couple times before a small smirk spread on his face and he snorted a laugh. He stood up and grabbed it quickly before walking back to his desk. The friend of his that sat at the desk next to him leaned in to say something and the prankster merely nodded his head in my direction.

I grinned at the guys and poked out my tongue, I just wanted to remind him that there were some of us in the class who knew what he was up to. Still he had peaked my interest, who was he? I couldn't remember seeing him around before now, then again he was a Slytherin and I didn't spend much time with them aside from Draco.

The prankster shook his head and laughed in disbelief while his friend lifted his eyebrows when I stuck out my tongue. The boy sat in his chair again, but kept his body facing me. He took his quill and dipped it into his newly returned ink pot before writing something on a piece of paper, folding it up into a plane before charming it to fly around the room and land in my table.

I watched the paper plane as it glides through the air and tilted my head to the right when it landed in front of me. Why would he send this? Looking back at him I raised a brow, as if asking what was on it, before I tentatively reached forward and carefully unfolded the paper.

 _Nice one Partridge. Oh wait, it's Snape, isn't it?_

It seemed simple enough, but the last six words were almost dripping with sarcasm. He shot me a smile when I looked at him next, although it was odd in that it didn't seem mean at all, before turning back around in his chair.

I stared at the paper for a few moments, my face contorted in a deep frown. What had he meant by that? Everyone had known I was a Snape for months now and it wasn't a slip up that anyone had made in awhile. If was a slip up at all. What was his game? But before I could dwell on it any longer the sound of our professor's voice dragged me from my thoughts as I looked up to where he stood behind his desk.

When the lesson got started Lupin explained that we would be learning about redcaps. We learnt all about how dangerous they are and how they live in places where blood has been shed, gross! What freaked me out was that like to kill those who get lost, I mean that's enough to deter me from wandering off alone. However, I wasn't totally focussed on the content of the lesson. I kept reminding myself that I needed to talk to Professor Lupin about the dementors because no doubt Harry would forget about it.

'Hey psst!' I turned my head to see that it was my aforementioned friend who was discreetly trying to get my attention.

'What?' I asked softly.

'What was the last thing Lupin just said? I missed it.'

My point exactly.

Sighing, I repeated what our professor had just told us while he scribbled it down on a piece of parchment. I wasn't sure if he got it all right because while his writing wasn't the worst it certainly wasn't the best either, especially since he was in a bit of a hurry and I was trying to read it from a slight angle. I'm sure that he got it all though and if he didn't then he could ask Hermione, who had once again mysteriously appeared behind us.

The rest of the lesson went smoothly although the topic made me cringe a nu,her of times as the professors talked about how the redcaps hats were coloured red by the blood of their victims. I mean how awful is that! Ew! I feel sorry for all those people... It made me said just thinking about it. Sighing, I looked down at my parchment. I could feel myself starting to grow bored, however it didn't last as Lupin said something that caused us all to come to life again.

'Class dismissed.'

As soon as the words were spoken we all got our things together and headed for the door, lunch was next and everyone was eager to get something to eat. Or at least I was anyway, my stomach had been grumbling for the last five minutes and now I just wanted food. However the note that guy had sent me at the start of the lesson was still bugging me. Sorry stomach, but you're gonna have to wait a little while longer. I thought to myself as I tried to catch up with the prankster.

I spotted him ahead of the crowd with his friend, who I now recognized as Zabini, and was about to make it to him when someone beat me to it. 'Hey, Hall!' The Hufflepuff, Justin Finch-Fletchley yelled as he blocked his path.

'Hall?' I asked softly and stopped to watch the interaction between the two. They obviously knew each other and if I listened long enough maybe I'd learn this guy's first name. That way I'd at least know what to call him when I went to talk to him.

'Get out of here, we have better things to do than talk to you, mudblood.' Zabini said in a bored tone, although his expression was hostile. Hall shot Zabini a quick glare that I might've missed if I hadn't been paying attention, before turning back to Justin. 'What do you want Finch? Or is it Fletchley? I hate hyphened names.' Hall said, making Zabini laugh. Justin scowled. 'Ha. Ha. I know you're the one who sent that thing after me at breakfast!' Hall shook his head and attempted to keep walking. 'Don't know what you're on about.'

Something in my gut told me that Hall was lying, and talk of this incident made me curious. Just what had this guy been up to this morning? Interested to learn more I followed after the group, making sure to stay within earshot while being far enough away that I didn't annoy them.

'Yeah right!' Justin scoffed, following them while the group remained unaware that I was doing the same. 'That creature is a menace! You could have killed me!' Hall turned to Zabini and smirked.

'Someone's being dramatic.' Zabini laughed and Justin got in front of them, keeping them from going any further as he glared.

'Between you and Lee Jordan, honestly! You keep your pet away from me - if you can even call it that - or I'm getting rid of it next time.' Hall's eyes flashed dangerously and the next second his wand was to Justin's throat.

'Justin I want you to listen to me very carefully.' He hissed. 'If I EVER find out you hurt Alabaster in the SLIGHTEST...it'll be the last thing you ever do. Got that?!' Justin had backed up against the wall and was nodding nervously.

'Tom...' Zabini muttered, nodding in my direction when Hall looked at him.

I gasped at his sudden outburst and paled, the guy was crazy! I mean yeah sure I cared abou Mabel and would do anything to protect her but I'd never threaten anyone like that! I gulped and stepped away as they looked back at me before finding my nerves. Growling I went over to the Slytherin duo and glared at them. 'What is your problem?! You can't just start threatening other students in the hallways!'

Zabini narrowed his eyes at me while Hall took a step back, his wand still at Justin's throat. 'Yes, MUM. I can threaten him in the boys lavatory if you like?' He asked, raising an eyebrow as Zabini snorted.

A smirk slowly spread across my face as I got an idea. 'Well if you want to behave like a spoilt little boy, you'll be treated like one.' Grinning I ran around behind him and spanked his bum. 'By the way, I'm sure my father will be very interested to hear about your behaviour Mr Hall.' I laughed and kept walking down the corridor.

It wasn't long after that when I realised that in all the commotion I'd completely forgotten to talk to Lupin. Dang it!


End file.
